Nein. A Manifesto. is an irreverent philosophical investigation into the everyday that sounds the call to rediscover its strangeness. Inspired by the philosophical aphorisms of Nietzsche, Karl Kraus, Walter Benjamin and Theodor W. Adorno, Jarosinski’s epigrammatic style reinvents short-form philosophy for a world doomed to distraction.
As tenets of a rather unorthodox manifesto, Jarosinski’s four-line compositions seek to illuminate our most urgent questions—and our most ephemeral. The result is a compelling and thought-provoking translation of digital into print. Theory into praxis. And tragedy into farce.
Nein. A Manifesto. is a must-read for critical thinkers, lovers of language, bibliophiles, manics and depressives alike.
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.
andNein. A Manifesto.
‘A crisp, illusive, irreverent voice.’
‘The very best piece of writing I’ve encountered on Twitter.’
‘This is a volume of poetry, a fact that makes you reconsider the content of Twitter as a whole. Hashtags are often used in modern humour as an abbreviated punchline, Jarosinski uses them to frame his bitter-sweet reverie on a society that has run out of time to listen…Nein. A Manifesto feels like a break for freedom.’
‘There is no one who is producing anything comparable to these incisively self-critical prose poems.’
‘[A] profoundly clever chapbook of brainy, nihilistic, dour but playful aphorisms…In my book, Nein is a big Yes.’
‘Marvellous…An unusual but brilliant summer paperback.’
