Nein. A Manifesto

by Eric Jarosinski

Overview

#FrequentlyAskedQuestions
1. Ontology: what the fuck?
2. Causality: why the fuck?
3. Epistemology: how the why the fuck?
4. Phenomenology: the fuck.

Nein. A Manifesto is the brainchild of Eric Jarosinski, the self-described “failed intellectual” behind the hugely popular @NeinQuarterly, a “Compendium of Utopian Negation” that uses the aphoristic potential of Twitter to plumb the existential abyss of modern life—and finds it bottomless.

Stridently hopeless and charmingly dour, Nein. A Manifesto is an irreverent philosophical investigation into our most urgent questions. And the least. Inspired by the aphorisms of Nietzsche, Karl Kraus, Walter Benjamin, and Theodor W. Adorno, Jarosinski’s short-form style reinvents philosophy for a world doomed to distraction.

Nein. A Manifesto will be packaged as an attractive small-format hardcover, with a handful of Jarosinski’s aphorisms laid out on each page. Critical thinkers, lovers of language, bibliophiles, manics and depressives alike will be drawn to this compelling, witty, and often hilarious translation of digital into print. Theory into praxis. And tragedy into farce.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802124371
Publisher:	Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Publication date:	09/15/2015
Pages:	172
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Eric Jarosinski is a self-declared #FailedIntellectual and expert in modern German literature, culture, and critical theory, as well as the founding editor of Nein. Quarterly. Jarosinski’s writing has been featured in numerous publications, including the New Yorker, the Paris Review, and the Wall Street Journal. He is based in New York.

Read an Excerpt

INTRODUCTION

Introduction

It's not hard to say no. It's hard to say it right. At the right time. For the right reasons.

Harder still to keep saying it, especially when we live in a world of yes. A tyranny of yes.

Yes to family. Yes to friends. Yes to terms. Yes to conditions. Yes to work. Yes to play. Yes to a life of yes, yes, and yes, please.

But there is another life. An uncertain life. It sings a song to no. Of no. For no.

Not just any no, however. A no of not now. Not yet. And not only.

The no of Nein.

(Continues…)

---

Excerpted from "Nein."
by .
Copyright © 2015 Eric Jarosinski.
Excerpted by permission of Grove Atlantic, Inc..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---

Table of Contents

Introduction,
1. Nein is not no. Nein is not yes. Nein is nein.,
2. Nein believes in nothing. Militantly.,
3. Nein does not take questions.,
4. Nein regrets to inform you.,
5. Nein is not the medium. Nein is not the message.,
6. Nein does not thank you for shopping.,
7. Nein is not style. Nein is not syntax.,
8. Nein says no. To a yes. That is a no.,
9. Nein closes its eyes to your surveillance state. Your dating profile. Your blog. And hears the sea.,
Glossary,
Afterword,

Editorial Reviews

08/24/2015
Twitter sensation @NeinQuarterly jumps into print with this witty and droll manifesto made up of short, pithy sayings. American Germanist Jarosinski models his thinking on that of philosopher Theodor W. Adorno but takes it one step farther: almost everything that can be negated is negated. "Nein is not no. Nein is not yes. Nein is nein," he explains. The slim manifesto is divided into digestible, tweet-length aphorisms (each on its own page) with a hashtag for a title. "#TechRevolution/ Turn on./ Log in./ Unsubscribe./ Log out." Jarosinski also includes a hilarious glossary of Nein-ish words and phrases. Performance art, for instance, is defined as "six doppelgangers in search of a selfie." Technology particularly draws his ire. He calls Instagram a "marketplace in which pictures of your cat are exchanged for a thousand unspoken words of derision." There are gems on nearly every page. The book might seem tongue-in-cheek, but Jarosinski's cynical aphorisms about philosophy, art, language, and literature hold plenty of truth. It is the perfect antidote to the relentless positivity of the stereotypical self-help manual. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Nein. A Manifesto:

“I hate Twitter, I think it should be prohibited—but Jarosinski’s Nein. is the only only exception, the only reason that justifies it! He is like a radical Norman Bates from Psycho intervening with his tweets which are like fast cuts with a knife!”—Slavoj Žižek, author of The Sublime Object of Ideology and Žižek’s Jokes and subject of the documentary Žižek!

“Witty and droll . . . There are gems on nearly every page. The book might seem tongue-in-cheek, but Jarosinski's cynical aphorisms about philosophy, art, language, and literature hold plenty of truth. It is the perfect antidote to the relentless positivity of the stereotypical self-help manual.”—Publishers Weekly (online)

“A hilarious manifesto of dystopian epigrams. Nein. is the devil on your shoulder, now on your shelf.”—Ben Schott, author of Schott’s Miscellany and Schottenfreude: German Words for the Human Condition

“Nein. celebrates everything that it negates. It is quietly, joyously bleak. Will you enjoy it? Perhaps better to ask: can you be certain that you've ever enjoyed anything?”—MC Frontalot

Praise for Eric Jarosinski and @NeinQuarterly:

“Crisp, allusive, irreverent.”—The New Yorker

“The very best piece of writing I’ve encountered on Twitter . . . Aphoristic, and yet hinting at a depth of knowledge underneath.”—Los Angeles Times (online)

“[Jarosinski] distills difficult philosophical concepts into triumphs of pith.”—Slate

“A high-wire walk between high and low culture that explodes all assumptions about the limitations of the German language and humor.”—The Irish Times (Ireland)

“Puns and word play are trademarks of Nein Quarterly. His jokes jump from Marxism to pumpkin spice lattes—all told from the perspective of a depressed German philosopher pining for another time and place . . . [Goethe UniversityProfessor Helmut] Wicht says Jarosinski has found Germany’s enigmatic funny bone. He jokes like an insider.”—Public Radio International

From the Publisher