Some kittens in the Philippines

Abstract

This article is, in fact, an experimental literature by Elkins that articulates images and music -real or fictional. The project has been developing since at least 2008 and consists of five books, with this being one of the yet-to-be-published volumes. In it, a professor (Samuel) attends a presentation by two students (Vipesh and Viperine) on the scientific developments regarding the causes of dysentery. These presentations are accompanied by more or less offensive PowerPoint images to which other students react in various ways (bored or genuinely entertained by the subject). While the presentation is taking place, the professor is struck by a migraine – his head begins to be drilled by mechanisms explained in a parallel narrative, as if extracted from some mining manual, with illustrated devices included. The images function as a fluid expression of the lecture on dysentery – a creative narrative touching on issues in the philosophy of science – and as a mechanical expression of the professor’s pains (fantastically? ... Perhaps?).