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The Encyclopedia of Stupidity |
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The Encyclopedia of Stupidity |
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基本信息·出版社：Reaktion Books
·页码：208 页
·出版日期：2005年04月
·ISBN：1861892314
·条形码：9781861892317
·装帧：平装
·正文语种：英语
内容简介 Matthijs van Boxsel believes that no one is intelligent enough to understand their own stupidity. In
The Encyclopædia of Stupidity he shows how stupidity manifests itself in all areas, in everyone, at all times, proposing that stupidity is the foundation of our civilization.
In short sections with such titles as ‘The Blunderers’ Club’, ‘Fools in Hell’, ‘Genealogy of Idiots’, and ‘The Aesthetics of the Empty Gesture’, stupidity is analysed on the basis of fairy tales, cartoons, triumphal arches, garden architecture, Baroque ceilings, jokes, flimsy excuses and science fiction. But Van Boxsel wants to do more than just assemble a ‘shadow cabinet’ of wisdom; he tries to fathom the logic of this opposite world. Where do understanding and intelligence begin and end? He examines mythic fools such as Cyclops and King Midas, cities such as Gotham, archetypes including the dumb blonde, and traditionally stupid animals such as the goose, the donkey and the headless chicken.
Van Boxsel posits that stupidity is a condition for intelligence, that blunders stimulate progress, that failure is the basis for success. In this erudite and witty book he maintains that our culture is the product of a series of failed attempts to comprehend stupidity.
作者简介 Matthijs van Boxsel is a literary historian who lives in Amsterdam.
专业书评 The Observer ‘[a] weirdly wonderful compilation… van Boxsel ranges from wise fools to dumb blondes, via laughing meadows and perfects idiots.’
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. New York Times ‘An illustrated hodgepodge of ruminations, anecdotes, aphorisms and esoterica’
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Manchester Evening News ‘A warming, enlightening and invigorating read…this intriguing book is shot through with wit on every page’
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Tatler 'Some people may not need this; for everyone else it's essential.'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Scotland on Sunday ‘[a] clever, riotously comical and fantastically provocative volume... With sly erudition and ironic naivety, van Boxsel has produced a classic'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
