We continue with John Zerzan’s Against Civilization! Please read pages 31-74.

This week – a story about ourselves? The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster.

This week, we begin with John Zerzan’s Against Civilization. Please read pages 1-30.

JH’s word on the text:

A collection of historical essays critiquing the civilized mode of existence from a philosophical, existential, psychosocial and biological point of view. Includes such writers as Hoxie Neale Fairchild, Rousseau, Thoreau, and the late great Fredy Perlman! Don’t miss it!

Introductory texts are always fun, so this week it’s Colin Ward’s Anarchism – A Very Short Introduction. Be sure to savor Ch. 1-5 (pp.1-50).

This week – our own local Lew leads us in reading choice slices from Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day. No preparation is required, but bring your Pynchonian hat if you have one.

Two cold ones for next time: Nechayev’s “Catechism of a Revolutionist” and excerpts from Eldridge Cleaver’s Soul on Ice. For the Cleaver, read the introduction and the first two letters—“On Becoming” and “Soul on Ice” (pp. xi-xv and 3-25)

One more week of Fathers and Sons. We didn’t finish it last time, so just go from wherever you’re at to the end.

We’ll finish Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons, going from Ch. 18 (p. 66) to the end. Hope to see ya there.

Dropped the baby. A few of us have been out of town most of this past week and so, as you see, in my preoccupations I did not post. We’ll record this as a ‘week off’ in order to spare me the guilt. Convening again next Tuesday, August 13th to read Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons, from the top to Ch. 18, stopping at p. 66. Apologies if you showed up tonight expecting a discussion — perhaps one happened anyway! See you soon.

There wasn’t a clear plan for a reading when we parted ways last week, but one was suggested subsequently. So here it is: We’ll remember one of our dead, Aragorn!, by reading a few of his writings on the nihilist move. I’m going to juxtapose a few pieces. From “Nihilism, Anarchy, and the 21st Century”, we’ll read Chapters 2-3 — “What is Left? Nihilism vs. Socialism” and “Nihilism as Strategy”. Then, from Attentat, let’s also look at “Nihilism as Strategy II” (pp. 141-154). Finally, because I think it goes well with A!’s stuff, “Anarchists Must Say What Only Anarchists Can Say” (pp. 154-173) from Nihilist Communism.