Kawai’s Dead Intellectuals Hot List
Zine, Kawai Shen, Vol. 1: Continental Philosophy, 6 pgs, www.cutejuicecomics.com
Here’s the zine Tinder for professional philosophers you’ve all been waiting for, Kawai’s Dead Intellectuals Hot List. But not just any philosophers, continental philosophers! The true freaks ready to think into the abyss and back – unlike those flaccidly logical analytic types, amirite???
Actually, Kawai’s picks come off as more swipe-left than swipe-right. All three are a little … much. With tiny collage send-ups and a short paragraph each for Foucault, Heidegger and Bataille, Kawai lays out their intense appeal for what it is. Foucault? Whips, leather, teeth and desubjectification. Heidegger? A brooding genius, with his black forest hermetic years symbolized by a black forest cake. And is that Hannah Arendt with a goth black tear on her cheek? Yes it is. What about Bataille? He’s the one dude in this trio I know nothing about, but there’s apparently some misguided treatment of eyeballs in his case. To each their own! Short, sweet and hilarious (at least to this philosophy major), here’s hoping Kawai’s hot list continues with a volume 2. (Joshua Barton)