The Idiots: The History of the Homo Nullus (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781803096261)

In a world obsessed with expertise and control, the figure of the idiot illuminates deeper truths about society.

Dostoevsky and Nietzsche wrote about him; Dadaists and punks idolized him; artists like Warhol and Beuys made him their icon. From holy fool to punk rebel, the idiot--a figure that traces its roots back to the Greek idiotes, a person who was alienated from public life--has always challenged society's norms from the margins. Far from a simple madman, the idiot is a powerful subversive, a person who disregards norms and finds profound insight in a state of unmediated inspiration. Using a cross-disciplinary approach bridging literature, religion, art, and philosophy, this volume traces a rich journey up to the present, where the idiot reemerges in a dramatic twist: a public figure who inverts social norms, confounds the boundary between private and public, and declares a new, paradoxical view of the world.

Author: Leonhard Emmerling
ISBN-10: 1803096268
ISBN-13: 9781803096261
Publisher: Seagull Books
Language: English
Published: 06/05/2026
Pages: 292
Format: Hardcover