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5 books match the query 'Sasse, Sylvia'
Aesthetic Theory
Edited by Dieter Mersch, Sandro Zanetti, and Sylvia Sasse
Diaphanes, 2019
Theodor Adorno’s famous aesthetic theory was not merely a theory of the aesthetic; it also made a wider claim about the aesthetic implications of all theory. At the same time we have to deal with aesthetic objects and events in which an aesthetic theory is inherent, which show themselves as art. From both sides—theory and aesthetics—a link can be made to the etymological meaning of theōria, which understands the theoretical as a seeing or perspective. Featuring lucid essays by major thinkers, this book examines this link, focusing equally on the aesthetic implications of theory and the theoretical implications of aesthetic events.
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Global Narratives of Russian Disinformation
Edited by Muriel Fischer, Sandra Frimmel, Nanina Graf, Iryna Herasimovich, Sylvia Sasse
Diaphanes, 2026
A study of the affects and effects of Russian narratives and their global dissemination.
Disinformation, conspiracy narratives, and propaganda are not only manipulative forms of communication with the intention to deceive, but also a field of global collective narratives. Russia is an important player in this field. From the Cold War to the present day, we can observe how (pro-)Russian narratives are regionally tailored, internationally disseminated, and appropriated by various political, economic, or cultural actors for their own purposes.
While some narratives might originate from literary fantasy, science fiction, or national myths, others draw on historical narratives and reproduce them. Russia often claims an anti-imperialist, anti-fascist, or postcolonial intention in order to conceal its own imperialism and fascism.
The contributions in this book document these narratives in their respective geographical and historical contexts. They examine narrative practices and their history, the interplay of global address, and local appropriation as well as affects and effects within political discourse.
Disinformation, conspiracy narratives, and propaganda are not only manipulative forms of communication with the intention to deceive, but also a field of global collective narratives. Russia is an important player in this field. From the Cold War to the present day, we can observe how (pro-)Russian narratives are regionally tailored, internationally disseminated, and appropriated by various political, economic, or cultural actors for their own purposes.
While some narratives might originate from literary fantasy, science fiction, or national myths, others draw on historical narratives and reproduce them. Russia often claims an anti-imperialist, anti-fascist, or postcolonial intention in order to conceal its own imperialism and fascism.
The contributions in this book document these narratives in their respective geographical and historical contexts. They examine narrative practices and their history, the interplay of global address, and local appropriation as well as affects and effects within political discourse.
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Nikolai Evreinov & Others
»The Storming of the Winter Palace«Edited by Inke Arns, Sylvia Sasse, and Igor Chubarov
Diaphanes, 2017
In 1920, on the third anniversary of the October Revolution, dramatist Nikolai Evreinov directed a cast of 10,000 actors, dancers, and circus performers—as well as a convoy of armored cars and tanks—in The Storming of the Winter Palace. The mass spectacle, presented in and around the real Winter Palace in Petrograd, was intended to recall the storming as the beginning of the October Revolution. But it was a deceptive reenactment because, in producing the events it sought to reenact, it created a new kind of theater, agit-drama, promulgating political propaganda and deliberately breaking down the distinction between performers and spectators.
Nikolaj Evreinov: “The Storming of the Winter Palace” tells the fascinating story of this production. Taking readers through the relevant history, the authors describe the role of The Storming of the Winter Palace in commemorating Soviet power. With a wealth of illustrations, they also show how photographs of Evreinov’s theatrical storming eventually became historical documents of the October Revolution themselves.
Nikolaj Evreinov: “The Storming of the Winter Palace” tells the fascinating story of this production. Taking readers through the relevant history, the authors describe the role of The Storming of the Winter Palace in commemorating Soviet power. With a wealth of illustrations, they also show how photographs of Evreinov’s theatrical storming eventually became historical documents of the October Revolution themselves.
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Subversive Affirmation
Critique of Critique RevisitedSylvia Sasse
Diaphanes, 2025
An analysis of the concept of subversive affirmation, a radical alternative to saying “no” as a form of resistance.
Since the 1960s, theory, the arts, and political activism have increasingly rejected the notion of resistance through negation, raising such arguments as: Doesn’t a critique based on negation make itself dependent on the very system it wants to overcome? Does it not remain trapped in a thinking of oppositions? Although coming from radically different angles, the formulation of concepts like subversive affirmation, hyperaffirmation, overidentification, paradoxical intervention, revolution of the yes, and affirmative sabotage all reflect the emergence of an affirmative critique that overcomes this negation while also making us aware of the difference between conscious consent and conformity, capitulation, indifference, or pragmatism. In her new book, Sylvia Sasse explores and analyzes subversive affirmation as a critical practice in different political systems. She examines the effectiveness of such criticism and its relevance at a time when various political actors have begun appropriating subversive affirmation and are no longer using it as a method of criticism.
Since the 1960s, theory, the arts, and political activism have increasingly rejected the notion of resistance through negation, raising such arguments as: Doesn’t a critique based on negation make itself dependent on the very system it wants to overcome? Does it not remain trapped in a thinking of oppositions? Although coming from radically different angles, the formulation of concepts like subversive affirmation, hyperaffirmation, overidentification, paradoxical intervention, revolution of the yes, and affirmative sabotage all reflect the emergence of an affirmative critique that overcomes this negation while also making us aware of the difference between conscious consent and conformity, capitulation, indifference, or pragmatism. In her new book, Sylvia Sasse explores and analyzes subversive affirmation as a critical practice in different political systems. She examines the effectiveness of such criticism and its relevance at a time when various political actors have begun appropriating subversive affirmation and are no longer using it as a method of criticism.
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The Steps of Nemesis
A Dramatic Chronicle in Six Scenes from Party Life in the USSR (1936–1938)Nikolai Evreinov
Diaphanes, 2022
The first-ever English translation of this dramatic work by Nikolai Evreinov.
In the 1910s the Russian theater director and theorist Nikolai Evreinov (1879–1953) insisted on the theatricalization of life. Twenty years later, Evreinov, who had left Russia in 1924, was in exile in Paris when Stalin staged three elaborate political show trials in Moscow. Evreinov then meticulously read the transcripts of the trials in the Russian-language press, collected material on Nikolai Bukharin and the other defendants, consulted with experts, and finally wrote a play, his response to the staging of a judicial farce. With this response, he also wanted to rehabilitate his idea of the theatricalization of life. After all, the theatricalization of life does not mean performing false confessions, constructing conspiracies, fabricating facts, or casting hired witnesses. In his theatrical theory, Evreinov was careful not to make the theater of life invisible. His play is therefore not a historical reconstruction, but an imaginary look behind the scenes, in which the Stalinist perpetrators confess to the real crime in the end: the theater. Expertly translated into English for the first time by Zachary King, The Steps of Nemesis brings a fascinating play to a whole new world.
In the 1910s the Russian theater director and theorist Nikolai Evreinov (1879–1953) insisted on the theatricalization of life. Twenty years later, Evreinov, who had left Russia in 1924, was in exile in Paris when Stalin staged three elaborate political show trials in Moscow. Evreinov then meticulously read the transcripts of the trials in the Russian-language press, collected material on Nikolai Bukharin and the other defendants, consulted with experts, and finally wrote a play, his response to the staging of a judicial farce. With this response, he also wanted to rehabilitate his idea of the theatricalization of life. After all, the theatricalization of life does not mean performing false confessions, constructing conspiracies, fabricating facts, or casting hired witnesses. In his theatrical theory, Evreinov was careful not to make the theater of life invisible. His play is therefore not a historical reconstruction, but an imaginary look behind the scenes, in which the Stalinist perpetrators confess to the real crime in the end: the theater. Expertly translated into English for the first time by Zachary King, The Steps of Nemesis brings a fascinating play to a whole new world.
[more]