Semiotext(e)

Semiotext(e) is an American independent publisher. It is widely credited for having introduced so-called "French Theory" to North America through its magazine issues and Foreign Agents series. Fact|date=September 2008 In 2000, the MIT Press began distributing Semiotext(e), taking it over from the anarchist publishing collective Autonomedia. The Semiotext(e) offices are located in Los Angeles.

History

Semiotext(e) began in 1974 as a journal started by French philosopher Sylvère Lotringer in an effort to bridge radical French theory and the intellectual and art worlds of New York City. The original editorial board included ten people, mostly graduate students at Columbia University where Lotringer teaches, who chipped in fifty dollars apiece to get the journal started. They held their first conference in 1975: the "Schizo-Culture" conference on prisons and madness. Speakers included Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari, Michel Foucault, and Jean Baudrillard, now all staples of the Semiotext(e) backlist. Out of this conference came their second issue of the journal, which sold out in three weeks. Following issues included "; Post-Political Polics", and the infamous "Polysexuality". In 1983, Lotringer began the Foreign Agents book series in their iconic 4.5" x 7" black-covered format.

Native Agents

In the late 1980s filmmaker and writer Chris Kraus came up with an idea to publish the American equivalent to the Foreign Agents series in writerly terms - non-mainstream American writers who exercise radical subjectivity. Semiotext(e)'s Native Agents series launched with Cookie Mueller's "Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black". The Native Agents series went on to publish urgent and visionary fiction and nonfiction by writers such as Kathy Acker, Eileen Myles, Michelle Tea, and Bob Flanagan.

Active Agents

In 2003 Semiotext(e) implemented their more overtly political arm, the Active Agents series These books, which include Amira Hass's "Reporting From Ramallah" and Alain Joxe's "Empire of Disorder", are published quickly in response to urgent issues. Hedi El Kholti joined Semiotexte as co-editor in 2003 introducing a new energy in the press embodied in Semiotext(e)'s recent book, "David Wojnarowicz: A Definitive History of Five or Six Year's on the Lower East Side", as well as a title by controversial French writer Tony Duvert, whose work proposes non-privatized forms of sexuality as cultural conduits. Since 2005, the three have been joined by associates Sarah Wang, Robbie Dewhurst, Justin Cavin, and translator Noura Wedell.

Name

The word Semiotext(e) was originally meant as a pun, connecting semiotics to text, adding the "e" to signify the magazine's initial bi-lingual nature. Fact|date=September 2008

References

*Interview with Sylvère Lotringer, published in ARTFORUM, issue April 2003 “My '80s: Better Than Life”

External links

* [http://www.autonomedia.org Autonomedia Website]
* [http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/browse/browse.asp?btype=8&pid=3 Semiotext(e) titles at the MIT Press]
* [http://www.semiotexte.com Semiotext(e) Website]
* [http://mitpress.mit.edu The MIT Press Website]