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Improper Names: Collective Pseudonyms from the Luddites to Anonymous (A Quadrant Book) Paperback – October 1, 2015

by Marco Deseriis (Author)
5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars 1 rating
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Improper Names offers a genealogy and theory of the “improper name,” which author Marco Deseriis defines as the adoption of the same pseudonym by organized collectives, affinity groups, and individual authors. Although such names are often invented to pursue a specific social or political agenda, they are soon appropriated for different and sometimes diverging purposes. This book examines the tension arising from struggles for control of a pseudonym’s symbolic power.

Deseriis provides five fascinating and widely varying case studies. Ned Ludd was the legendary and eponymous leader of the English Luddites, textile workers who threatened the destruction of industrial machinery and then advanced a variety of economic and political demands. Alan Smithee—an alias coined by Hollywood film directors in 1969 in order to disown films that were recut by producers—became a contested signature and was therefore no longer effective to signal prevarication to Hollywood insiders. Monty Cantsin was an “open pop star” created by U.S. and Canadian artists in the late 1970s to critique bourgeois notions of authorship, but its communal character was compromised by excessive identification with individual users of the name. The Italian media activists calling themselves Luther Blissett, aware of the Cantsin experience, implemented measures to prevent individuals from assuming the alias, which was used to author media pranks, sell apocryphal manuscripts to publishers, fabricate artists and artworks, and author best-selling novels. The longest chapter here is devoted to the contemporary “hacktivist” group known as Anonymous, which protests censorship and restricted access to information and information technologies.

After delving into a rich philosophical debate on community among those who have nothing in common, the book concludes with a reflection on how the politics of improper names affects present-day anticapitalist social movements such as Occupy and 15-M.
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Previous page
  1. Part of series
    A Quadrant Book
  2. Print length
    296 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Univ Of Minnesota Press
  5. Publication date
    October 1, 2015
  6. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.9 x 8.5 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0816694877
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0816694877
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Marco Deseriis’s learned and lively account of the improper name carefully considers the history, political reach, and symbolic power afforded by the alias by drawing on a rich set of examples, from Ned Ludd to Anonymous. The book’s optic opens wide to engage a wide range of subjects, from labor history to the politics of art, direct action, and digital media."—Gabriella Coleman, McGill University

 



"Unusual and distinctive... A thorough, well-informed, tightly argued criticism of the political implications of deconstructionist thought."—Anarchist Studies

About the Author


Marco Deseriis is assistant professor of media and screen studies at Northeastern University.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Univ Of Minnesota Press (October 1, 2015)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 296 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0816694877
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0816694877
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars 1 rating

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Marco Deseriis

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Top review from the United States

Mary Taylor
5.0 out of 5 stars Original book on an unexplored topic
Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2015
This is an academic but highly readable book on an unexplored topic. The theory is mostly concentrated in the introduction and the conclusion. The five case studies are quite diverse yet the author is able to find similarities that allow him to develop his theory of the improper name.

The basic argument is that a name is improper when it does not designate neither an individual nor a collective, but a form of subjectivity that is both individual and collective (the author uses the awkward term "condividual" to describe this conflation). In this sense a more appropriate subtitle for the book could have been "shared pseudonyms from the Luddites to Anonymous." Indeed, in the introduction the author himself notes that not all collective pseudonyms are improper names (the collective of French mathematicians N. Bourbaki being the main example), but rather that the improper name always entails a dissemination of the alias that exceeds the control of its creators.

The case studies are all deeply researched and seem to rely on a mixed methodology (partly based on archival material, partly based on original interviews with practitioners, partly theoretical). I enjoyed in particular the chapters on Luther Blissett and Anonymous. The former delves deeply into this relatively unknown network of media activists, authors, and artists--at least here in the United States--showing both its strengths and witnesses. The chapter on Anonymous does not reveal anything, however, it offers an interesting argument to understand how the hacker group evolved in time going through three different transition phases. The chapter on Alan Smithee--a pseudonym shared by Hollywood film directors to sign movies they want to disown--was also quite interesting as I had never heard about it.

Overall, if you are interested in subjectivity, pseudonymity, authorship at the intersections of media, activism, and art, this is a book that is worth getting. If you are allergic to theory, I suggest that you skip the second part of the introduction and the conclusion. You will still find theory in the case studies but it never gets too heavy.
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