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The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium: American Culture on the Brink
by
Mark Dery (Goodreads Author)
From the far left to the far right, on talk radio and the op-ed page, more and more Americans believe that the social fabric is unraveling. Celebrity worship and media frenzy, suicidal cultists and heavily armed secessionists: modern life seems to have become a "pyrotechnic insanitarium," Mark Dery says, borrowing a turn-of-the-century name for Coney Island. Dery elucidate...more
Paperback, 304 pages
Published
December 15th 1999
by Grove Press
(first published February 1st 1999)
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This is what it feels like when the End Times are Nigh--which seems to happen every hundred years or so, and more recently, about once a decade. Mark Dery wrote this book of essays in the late 1990s, about the "fin de millennium," and it's still equally relevant as our fractured, kaleidoscopic, socially-networked-to-death decade of naughts draws to a close. The essays explore everything from the Unabomber to killer clowns, placing disturbing 1990s American pop culture in a larger technological a...more
Mark Dery is one of the sharpest writers on modern culture I've ever discovered. His feverish, post-everything essays about American/global/technological/millennial culture (what he calls the "pyrotechnic insanitarium," recycling a gem of Coney Island barkery) reverberate with the right mix of the hip and the academic–curmudgeonly, making this collection a joy for casual readers and sine qua non for futurologists, skeptics, and genealogists of the uncanny.
Neither technophobe nor fool for the fak...more
Neither technophobe nor fool for the fak...more
Oct 24, 2008
lisa_emily
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
culture jammers & other preserver types
Recommended to lisa_emily by:
Scott
Shelves:
philosophy-cultural-theory
Reading The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium is like attending a class reunion of the last decade; you get to revisit all the things you kind of forgot about and all the things that you wish you could forget, like big-boob jobs and Jim Rose Circus Sideshow. He even examines those horrid daytime tabloid tv shows and validates their existence with some compelling reasons (although not convicing enough for me to watch).
The first chapter covers the gamut from the X-files and Crag Baldwin to Umberto Eco &...more
The first chapter covers the gamut from the X-files and Crag Baldwin to Umberto Eco &...more
Similar in content to the superlative Apocalypse Culture anthologies, but oddly interspersed with Naomi Klein-style economic critiques. I suggest that you peruse the wonderfully-written paeans to Coney Island and sideshow bodies, but skip over any page that devotes space to income disparity. And read Apocalypse Culture first.
i re-read this book and enjoyed it as much the second time. its focus is really on some of the darker threads of the fin-de-millennium american culture. end of the century apocalyptic schizo kinda stuff. killer clowns, branding, post humanism, aliens, and conspiracies. it is just a relevant now as it was when i first read it at the end of the 90's. it confirms to me that somewhere near the end of 2001 time started running in reverse...
14 years old, and as a compilation that means some pieces are even older. Regardless, Dery's insights pry back the linoleum and reveal some surface truths about (mostly) American culture which can be disturbing. Dery's takes a slightly askew angle and this approach brings forth more truths than are in the words.
very interesting essays about some of my favorite morbid topics: killer clowns, damien hirst and the xfiles. its about the coming of the year 2000 so its a little dated but still relevant
it's been years since i read this book, but i really remember enjoying the hell out of it. i should reread this.
May 13, 2011
Kate Walker
added it
Written 10 years ago but feels like it could be today. Very fun writing style and an interesting topic.
May 16, 2013
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From http://www.markdery.com/author.html#s...
Mark Dery is a cultural critic. Bruce Sterling wrote, "He may be the best cultural critic alive." Roseanne Barr once told him, when he guested on her radio show, "I like your sense of humor. You're *dark*. We should have a dark-off."
Mark writes about media, the visual landscape, fringe trends, and unpopular culture. He is the author of The Pyrotechnic I...more
More about Mark Dery...
Mark Dery is a cultural critic. Bruce Sterling wrote, "He may be the best cultural critic alive." Roseanne Barr once told him, when he guested on her radio show, "I like your sense of humor. You're *dark*. We should have a dark-off."
Mark writes about media, the visual landscape, fringe trends, and unpopular culture. He is the author of The Pyrotechnic I...more
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Sep 24, 2008 10:37am