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Adrift in a Hyperculture - by Jarryd Bartle - Arc Digital

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If there’s one provocation that solidifies social theorist Byung-Chul Han as the countercultural figure of our time, it’s his praise of boredom. “If sleep represents the high point of bodily relaxation, deep boredom is the peak of mental relaxation” he writes in his seminal text The Burnout Society. Limits, self-sacrifice, and difference—the themes within Han’s work are a clapback against the dizzying ego overstimulation of contemporary society, where duty and taboo have been replaced with a hedonistic injunction to ‘enjoy.’ Born in South Korea, but based in Germany, Han’s influence within the Anglosphere has yet to be fully realized, mostly due to the slow-drip of English translations of his many books and essays. With the translation of Hyperculture: Culture and Globalization, Han provides a timeless critique of globalized consumer culture. To understand Han’s work, you need to grasp his critique of what he calls our “achievement society.” First outlined in The Burnout Society, Han d

The Arc Digi Review of Books Adrift in a Hyperculture A review of "Hyperculture: Culture and Globalization" by Byung-Chul Han Jarryd Bartle Mar 07, 2023 3 Share Hyperculture: Culture and Globalization Byung-Chul Han Polity, 106 pages, 2022 If there’s one provocation that solidifies social theorist Byung-Chul Han as the countercultural figure of our time, it’s his praise of boredom. “If sleep represents the high point of bodily relaxation, deep boredom is the peak of mental relaxation” he writes in his seminal text The Burnout Society . Limits, self-sacrifice, and difference—the themes within H

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