Night, Volume II: A Philosophy of the Last World

This murky outing by comparative literature professor Mohaghegh (Omnicide) muses on nighttime and occult metaphysics. Consulting an eclectic variety of thinkers and traditions that include Margaret Atwood, Georges Bataille, psychoanalysis, and Greek mythology, Mohaghegh explores the relationship between night and space, silence, violence, and secrecy. He suggests that “night holds a particular key to unlock states of unreality” and functions as a transgressive space that undermines the social bonds “formed around momentary erosions of formal codes of behavior,” but his attempts to elaborate on what this means are impenetrable. Oblique references to homunculi, golems, and mystical archetypes accompany social commentary whose import remains frustratingly out of reach (“Sometimes the most impersonal spheres are required [the modern cityscape] to execute the most personal violence [existential theft]”). Anything approaching a coherent argument resists comprehension through elliptical prose that borders on nonsensical (“Our stare upon this bloated sack of a once-being is hence the desperate gaze of futility itself”) and consistently succumbs to verbosity (“One need only grasp how almost all spatial settings are drastically altered by the nocturnal onset”). Overwrought prose and vague ideas will leave readers in the dark. (Sept.)