Description
by
Friedrich Kittler (Author),
Ilinca Iurascu (Editor),
Geoffrey Winthrop-Young (Editor)
Operation Valhalla collects eighteen texts by German media theorist Friedrich Kittler on the close connections between war and media technology. In these essays, public lectures, interviews, literary analyses, and autobiographical musings, Kittler outlines how war has been a central driver of media’s evolution, from Prussia’s wars against Napoleon to the so-called War on Terror. Covering an eclectic array of topics, he charts the intertwined military and theatrical histories of the searchlight and the stage lamp, traces the microprocessor’s genealogy back to the tank, shows how rapid-fire guns brought about new standards for optics and acoustics, and reads Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow to upset established claims about the relationship between war, technology, and history in the twentieth century. Throughout, Operation Valhalla foregrounds the outsize role of war in media history as well as Kittler’s importance as a daring and original thinker.
Author Biography
Friedrich Kittler (1943-2011) was a Professor of Media Aesthetics and History at Humboldt University in Berlin and the author of numerous books, including Discourse Networks 1800/1900 and Gramophone, Film, Typewriter.
Ilinca Iurascu is Associate Professor of German at the University of British Winthrop-Young is Professor of German at the University of British Wutz is Rodney H. Brady Presidential Distinguished Professor of English at Weber State of Pages: 312Dimensions: 0.65 x 9 x 6 INPublication Date: April 09, 2021
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