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THE CURRENCY OF PAPER
ALEX KOVACS
“. . . labour is external to the worker, i.e., it does not belong to his essential being; that in his work, therefore, he does not affirm himself but denies himself, does not feel content but unhappy, does not develop freely his physical and mental energy but mortifies his body and ruins his mind. The worker therefore only feels himself outside his work, and in his work feels outside himself. He is at home when he is not working, and when he is working he is not at home. His labour is therefore not voluntary but coerced; it is forced labour. It is therefore not the satisfaction of a need; it is merely a means to satisfy needs external to it. Its alien character emerges clearly in the fact that as soon as no physical or other compulsion exists, labour is shunned like the plague. External labour, labour in which man alienates himself, is a labour of self-sacrifice, of mortification.”
—The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, Karl Marx
CONTENTS
Observing the Progress of Time
A Short Essay Written by the Protagonist
Details of Some Principal Coordinates
Aspirations to a Complete Inventory
Writings in the Mode of Realism
General Advertisement to the Locality
Occurrences of an Afternoon of Leisure
The Faded Glamour of Certain Stairwells
Time Signatures Affect Desires
An Unexpected Encounter with Trevor
Abandoned Projects of Minor Significance
Brief Communications with the Populace
On the Planet Everybody Calls Home
Habitual Practices that Cannot be Ignored
Notes on Inconsequential Occasions
Broadcasts Received in the Outer Regions
A Speech Delivered to a Small Audience Gathered Inside an Abandoned Ballroom
What Will Happen at this Juncture?
It’s Never Impossible to do Something for the First Time (If You Haven’t Done It Before)
Transcription of an Afternoon Walkie-Talkie Conversation
Instruction Booklet Discovered Inside a Large Box
The Pleasures of Examining Ice
