just received this catalog from Edinburgh

“Dear Graham,

Speculative Realism – what’s that all about? It’s what all the young philosophers – and some of the not-so-young ones – are talking about. Well, now’s your chance to find out because we’re delighted to announce publication of Quentin Meillassoux: Philosophy in the Making by Graham Harman: one member of the Speculative Realism movement talking about another in what Slavoj Zizek calls ‘a rare true encounter’.”

It’s a strange experience to be addressed as a customer for one’s own product, though also fun.

It reminds me of a much more extreme case of this sort, experienced by none other than Michael Jordan.

Jordan told the story about the time when he was considering ending his first retirement and returning to play for the Chicago Bulls in 1995.

He was sitting home alone in suburban Chicago with the lights off watching a movie on television. Suddenly an announcer interrupted the movie, saying the usual “we interrupt this program for a special news bulletin” sort of thing. Jordan felt his heart skip a beat. He was sure that Bill Clinton had been assassinated, or a war had started, or something like that.

Instead, the special news bulletin was a rumor that Michael Jordan would return to play for the Bulls. Not surprising that they would interrupt a program for this– in 1990’s Chicago, Jordan was as mythical a figure as Batman or Superman, and his possible return to play for the Bulls was one of the most dramatic and uplifting news weeks I’ve ever experienced as a resident of any city.

But the announcer was saying things like: “What is the true story here? Only Michael Jordan knows the answer.” But at that point Jordan was still apparently in total confusion as to whether he’d come back to play or not. There has to be a Lacanian lesson in here somewhere, and I’m sure Slavoj Žižek could find it in a few seconds.

It was a brilliant story, very well told by Jordan at the time, and it’s always stuck with me as one of those extreme human experiences that only a tiny number of people would ever have, and which must be incredibly unnerving to those who are having them.