Dreamwork: Why All Work Is Imaginary
Upending our perception of employment, a surprising investigation into the mystical nature of our daily toil.
 
Dreamwork is a book about the ideas, dreams, dreads, and ideals we have about work. Its central argument is this: Although we depend on the idea of work for our identity as humans, we feel we must disguise from ourselves the fact that we do not know what work is. There is no example of work that nobody might, under some circumstances, do for fun. All work is imaginary—which is not to say that it is simply illusory, but rather that, to count as work, it must be imagined to be work. In other words, a large part of what we mean by working is this work of imagining. Work is therefore essentially mystical—just the opposite of what it is taken to be by all of us spending our days at desks, behind cash registers, and in factories. Delving into this complex mythos, Dreamwork looks in turn at worries about whether or not work is hard; the importance of places of work; the meanings of hobbies, holidays, and sabbaths; and the history of dreams of redeeming work.
1143199876
Dreamwork: Why All Work Is Imaginary
Upending our perception of employment, a surprising investigation into the mystical nature of our daily toil.
 
Dreamwork is a book about the ideas, dreams, dreads, and ideals we have about work. Its central argument is this: Although we depend on the idea of work for our identity as humans, we feel we must disguise from ourselves the fact that we do not know what work is. There is no example of work that nobody might, under some circumstances, do for fun. All work is imaginary—which is not to say that it is simply illusory, but rather that, to count as work, it must be imagined to be work. In other words, a large part of what we mean by working is this work of imagining. Work is therefore essentially mystical—just the opposite of what it is taken to be by all of us spending our days at desks, behind cash registers, and in factories. Delving into this complex mythos, Dreamwork looks in turn at worries about whether or not work is hard; the importance of places of work; the meanings of hobbies, holidays, and sabbaths; and the history of dreams of redeeming work.
27.5 In Stock
Dreamwork: Why All Work Is Imaginary

Dreamwork: Why All Work Is Imaginary

by Steven Connor
Dreamwork: Why All Work Is Imaginary

Dreamwork: Why All Work Is Imaginary

by Steven Connor

Hardcover

$27.50 
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Overview

Upending our perception of employment, a surprising investigation into the mystical nature of our daily toil.
 
Dreamwork is a book about the ideas, dreams, dreads, and ideals we have about work. Its central argument is this: Although we depend on the idea of work for our identity as humans, we feel we must disguise from ourselves the fact that we do not know what work is. There is no example of work that nobody might, under some circumstances, do for fun. All work is imaginary—which is not to say that it is simply illusory, but rather that, to count as work, it must be imagined to be work. In other words, a large part of what we mean by working is this work of imagining. Work is therefore essentially mystical—just the opposite of what it is taken to be by all of us spending our days at desks, behind cash registers, and in factories. Delving into this complex mythos, Dreamwork looks in turn at worries about whether or not work is hard; the importance of places of work; the meanings of hobbies, holidays, and sabbaths; and the history of dreams of redeeming work.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781789147568
Publisher: Reaktion Books, Limited
Publication date: 09/18/2023
Pages: 256
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Steven Connor is professor of English and director of research at the Digital Futures Institute, King’s College London. He is the author of more than twenty books.

Table of Contents

1 Dreamworks
2 Hard Work
3 At Work
4 Off Work
5 Working Out
References
Index
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