Oasis: Fourth World – Semiotext(e)

New York: Semiotext(e), 1984. 8vo (25,5×17,5cm), printed card wrappers. 128pp. Text in English.
Corners slightly bumped with minor rubbing and moderate soiling to front cover. Fore-edge and fly leaf slightly foxed at margins, but text clean and unmarked. Overall a very good copy.

Founded in 1973 by Sylvere Lotringer, Semiotext(e) served as a vehicle for introducing French theory to the United States. The intent was to circulate French theory on the streets, among artists and cultural workers, and not primarily in academia, in order to disrupt the complicity between radical culture and conservative institutions of taste.

This issue from 1984, titled Oasis: Fourth World, was secretly produced and handed to Lotringer with an ultimatum: “Take it or leave it.”.

The editorial team, consisting of Timothy Simone, Peter Caravetta, Brigitte Ouvry-Vial, and Gregory Whitehead, assembled an incredible international issue, with over thirty pieces connected by the theme of water, by Franco (Bifo) Berardi, Nuruddin Farah, Chris Marker, Sun Ra, Wole Soyinka, and many others.

This copy contains the first known apperance of the written commentary of Sans Soleil in English.