Fragments on Waking
Personal Demons September 7, 2026 DOI: 10.1215/9781478062707-005 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that waking has become a disorienting mode of subjectivation structured by second-person address, contractual obligation, and compulsory vigilance, rather than a path to clarity or freedom. Proposes "plural psychoses" as a potential basis for coalition beyond truth, consensus, or cure. |
Abstract
The interlude offers a series of fragmentary reflections on “waking” as a dominant metaphor of late-liberal consciousness, tracking its circulation across conspiracy culture, psychosis, political radicalization, prestige television, videogames, and popular music. Moving between analyses of Robocop, Severance, The Leftovers, Westworld, 9/11 trutherism, Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and Disco Elysium, the interlude argues that waking no longer names epistemic clarity or emancipation, but a disorienting mode of subjectivation structured by second-person address, contractual obligation, and compulsory vigilance. Waking appears as a compromised fantasy of escape from consensus reality that nevertheless reproduces liberal forms of control. Written in the penumbral hours between infant care and sleep, the interlude sketches a nonsystematic model of “plural psychoses” as a potential ground for coalition beyond truth, consensus, or cure.