The Czech-Brazilian philosopher Vilém Flusser (1920-1991) has been recognized as a decisive past master in the emergence of contemporary media theory and media archeology. His work engages and also rethinks several mythologies of modernity, devising new methodologies, experimental literary practices, and expanded hermeneutics that trouble traditional practices of literary/literate knowledge, shared experience, reception, and communication. Working within an expanded concept of modernism, Flusser presciently noted the power inherent in algorithmic information apparatuses to reshape our fundamental conceptions of culture and history. In an increasingly technological world, Flusser's form of experimental theory-fiction pits philosophy against cybernetics as it forces the category of "the human" to confront the inhuman world of animals and machines. The contributors to Understanding Flusser, Understanding Modernism engage with the multiplicity of Flusser's thought as they provide a general analysis of his work, engage in comparative readings with other philosophers, and offer expanded conceptualizations of modernism. The final section of the volume includes an extended glossary clarifying the playful terminology used by Flusser, which will be a valuable resource for experts and students alike.

List of IllustrationsContributorsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction Aaron Jaffe, Florida State University, USA, Rodrigo Martini, University of Georgia, USA, Michael F. Miller, University of Amsterdam, the NetherlandsPART I: Processing Flusser1. Does AI Have a Future? Rita Raley, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA, and Russell Samolsky, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA2. Design/Shape Anke Finger, University of Connecticut, USA3. Flusser in Open Circuits: The Dialogic Capacity of Video Images Daniel Irrgang, Weizenbaum-Institute, Berlin, Germany4. Flusser and Ars Electronica: Between and Beyond Cybernetics Daniel Raschke, Florida State University, USA5. Flusser in the Light of RadiationClint Wilson III, Rice University, USA6. Games and Play: On Being Human in the Universe of Technical Images Nancy Roth, Independent Scholar, USA7. Flusser's Philosophical Backgrounds Martha Schwendener, New York University, USA8. Flusser's Quasi-Phenomenology Andreas Max Ströhl, Goethe Institute, North America9. Migrants, Flâneurs, Critics: Flusserian Irony and the Genealogy of Modern Cynicism Alexander B. Adkins, San Jacinto College, USA10. Vampyroteuthis infernalis as Media Theory Geoffrey Winthrop-Young, University of British Columbia, Canada11. Posthistory Today: Historical Time and Virality after FlusserCharles M. Tung, Seattle University, USAPART II: Flusser's Expanded Modernism12. Demonologies Laurence A. Rickels, European Graduate School Saas-Fee, Switzerland13. An Intersubjective Style Frances McDonald, University of Louisville, USA14. "Naked Little Spasms of the Self": In Search of an Authentic Gesture in Posthistorical Times Dominic Pettman, The New School, USA15. The 'Pataphysical Span: Jarry and Flusser Judith Roof, Rice University, USA16. Flusser's New Weird Keith Leslie Johnson, The College of William and Mary, USA17. A Philosophy of Refraction: Flusser's Speculative Biology and the Study of Paramedia David Bering-Porter, The New School, USA18. Everything Quantizes Kate Brideau, New York University, USA19. Religious Telematics and the Archives of Memory K. Merinda Simmons, University of Alabama, USA20. The Challenge of Flusser: Latinidad and Its Others John Ribó, Florida State University, USA21. On Synthesis and Synthetic Reality: Post/Modernism in Flusser's Thinking Rainer Guldin, Università della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Switzerland22. Fascism, Iconoclasm, and the Global Village Guy Stevenson, Goldsmiths and Queen Mary Colleges, University of London, UK23. The Future of Writing David Golumbia, Virginia Commonwealth University, USA24. Flusser's Linguistic Briefcase Tatjana Soldat-Jaffe, Florida State University, USA25. The Depressed Person and the Vampire Squid: Sonic Gestures in the Work of Flusser and David Foster Wallace Edward Comentale, Indiana University, USA26. Cannibalistic Animals: Posthuman Natures in Flusser and Benjamin Erick Felinto, State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), Brazil27. Flusser's New World Aaron Jaffe, Florida State University, USAPART III: Flusser's Toolkit28. Anti-Apparatus Melody Jue, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA29. Apparatus Blake Stricklin, University of Houston, Victoria, USA30. Automation Seb Franklin, King's College London, UK31. Cybernetics Heather A. Love, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada32. Dasein's Design Chris Michaels. Florida State University, USA33. Ecology Derek Woods, University of British Columbia, Canada34. Ethics Annie Lowe, Rice University, USA35. Etymology Andrew Battaglia, Rice University, USA36. Surface and Simulation Tom Tooley, Valencia College, USA37. Technical Image Anaïs Nony, University College Cork, Ireland38. Writing Andrew Pilsch, Texas A&M University, USA39. Zetetic Maneuvers: Stalking the ContinuumAdelheid Mers, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, USAEpilogue: Between Languages and Without Discipline: A 20th Century Intellect Drafted for the 21st Siegfried Zielinski, European Graduate School Saas-Fee, Switzerland, translated from the German by Daniel Raschke, Florida State University, USA