The demon of writing : powers and failures of paperwork / Ben Kafka.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 155-177) and index.

Ben Kafka offers a critical history and theory of one of the most ubiquitous, least understood forms of media: paperwork.

Introduction -- The Psychic Life of Paperwork -- I. The Disciplined State -- "The National Assembly Doesn't Give a Damn" -- "Shareholders in the Great Social Enterprise" -- The Disciplined State -- "A Stranger to Everything Happening" -- II. The Demon of Writing -- "The Demon of Writing" -- "The Physical Impossibility of Doing Otherwise" -- "Tiresome Details," "Barbarous Concision" -- "As Simple as It Was Bizarre" -- Matter, Form, and Power -- III. The State of Want -- Writing and Indifference -- "Women and White Paper" -- Is Tocqueville Kidding? -- A Bitter Joke -- IV. The Bureaucratic Medium -- The Case of Inspector, von Zuccalmaglio -- Smashing -- Mistakes Are Made -- Withdrawal Slip -- From the Desk of Roland Barthes -- Conclusion -- The Wish-Utensil -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Index.