The Vital Illusion

First edition. Sm. 8vo. Pp. [viii], 102, [2 (blank)]. Beige cloth over tan paper boards, lettered in silver to spine. Jacket design by James Victore.

Wellek Library Lectures, given in May 1999 at the University of California, Irvine. What does the advent of cloning mean for human beings? What does the turn of the millennium reveal about our relationship to time? The prophet of post-modernity untangles the "vital illusion" between the virtual and the actual, taking the pulse of humanity surrounded by a technological landscape.

"Baudrillard claims that the technology of cloning, our many quests for sameness and facsimile, are symptoms of our inability to accept diversity... Rarely do words convey such urgency as on a page by Baudrillard." –LA Times Book Review