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9781803096551 6a4fa47f6be182a709fef62c Idiots: The History of the Homo Nullus https://www.midlandbookshop.com/s/607fe93d7eafcac1f2c73ea4/6a4fa21aec484a1029d2c042/61zlp3k16al-_sl1500_.jpg
In a world obsessed with expertise and control, the figure of the idiot illuminates deeper truths about society. Dostoevsky and Nietzsche wrote about him; Dadaists and punks idolized him; artists like Warhol and Beuys made him their icon. From holy fool to punk rebel, the idiot―a figure that traces its roots back to the Greek idiotes, a person who was alienated from public life―has always challenged society’s norms from the margins. Far from a simple madman, the idiot is a powerful subversive, a person who disregards norms and finds profound insight in a state of unmediated inspiration. Using a cross-disciplinary approach bridging literature, religion, art, and philosophy, this volume traces a rich journey up to the present, where the idiot reemerges in a dramatic twist: a public figure who inverts social norms, confounds the boundary between private and public, and declares a new, paradoxical view of the world.

About the Author

Leonhard Emmerling has worked as an art historian in different capacities: as curator and director of art institutions in Germany and New Zealand; as teacher at art academies in Auckland, Düsseldorf, and Munich; and as advisor and director for the Goethe-Institut. His most recent publication is Aesthetics: What For?.

Parnal Chirmuley is associate professor at the Centre of German Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi.
 9781803096551
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Idiots: The History of the Homo Nullus

Idiots: The History of the Homo Nullus

ISBN: 9781803096551
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  • ISBN: 9781803096551
  • Author: Leonhard Emmerling
  • Format: Paperback
  • Publisher: Seagull Books
  • Publication Date: July 24, 2026
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Book Description

In a world obsessed with expertise and control, the figure of the idiot illuminates deeper truths about society. Dostoevsky and Nietzsche wrote about him; Dadaists and punks idolized him; artists like Warhol and Beuys made him their icon. From holy fool to punk rebel, the idiot―a figure that traces its roots back to the Greek idiotes, a person who was alienated from public life―has always challenged society’s norms from the margins. Far from a simple madman, the idiot is a powerful subversive, a person who disregards norms and finds profound insight in a state of unmediated inspiration. Using a cross-disciplinary approach bridging literature, religion, art, and philosophy, this volume traces a rich journey up to the present, where the idiot reemerges in a dramatic twist: a public figure who inverts social norms, confounds the boundary between private and public, and declares a new, paradoxical view of the world.

About the Author

Leonhard Emmerling has worked as an art historian in different capacities: as curator and director of art institutions in Germany and New Zealand; as teacher at art academies in Auckland, Düsseldorf, and Munich; and as advisor and director for the Goethe-Institut. His most recent publication is Aesthetics: What For?.

Parnal Chirmuley is associate professor at the Centre of German Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi.

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