High Quality
Open the downloaded document, and select print from the file menu (PDF reader required).
SEMIOTEXT(E)FOREIGNAGENTSSERIESCopyright2008
©
Semiotextfe)©PaoloVirnoandBollatiBoringhieri.Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproduced,storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmittedbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photo-copying,recording,orotherwise,withoutpriorpermissionofthepublisher.Publishedby
Semiorextfe)
to
LionelCasson,GlenMilstein,BrettPhares,andRobertDewhurstforcopyediting;and
to
FedericoBoccacciniforresearchassistance.CoverandinsideArtbyMichalRovner.Cover:
Flower,
2004,steeltable,onePerridishanddigitalprojection.Firstpage:
Untitled(SpiralLines).
Copyright:MichalRovner!ArtistsRightsSociety(ARS),NewYork.Courtesy:PaceWildensteinGalleryDesignbyHediEIKholtiISBN:978-1-58435-050-7DistributedbyTheMITPress,Cambridge,Mass.andLondon,EnglandPrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
t,
MULTITUDE
BETWEENINNOVATIONANDNEGATION
PaoloVirna
TranslatedbyIsabellaBertoletti,JamesCascaito,andAndreaCasson
<e>
PART3
MIRRORNEURONS,LINGUISTICNEGATION,RECIPROCALRECOGNITION
Translators'Note:
InHypothesis2ofthisessay,andinthecorollariestothishypothesis,whereVirnoillustrateshowthe"linguisticanimalisthespeciescapableofnotrecognizingitsownkind,"wefindinhiswordsechoesofapoemthatwillbeveryfamiliartotheItalianreader:"Sequesto
e
unuomo"("IfThisisaMan"),bytheItalianwriterandsurvivoroftheHolocaust,PrimoLevi.Inthestate-mentofthehypothesis,Virnoplacesinquotationmarksthewordsthat"signal"thepoem:"Eventheperceptiveevidencethat'thisisaman'losesitsownirrefutability..."Theelaborationofhisargument,inthecorollaries,recallselementsofthepoemthatembodytheprocessbywhichtheNaziofficercancometo"considertheoldJewishmantobe'nothuman.'"Hereisthepoeminitsentirety:
171
Add a Comment