The Catastrophe of Paradox

Abstract

In December 1992, Baudrillard delivered the lecture “Hyperreal America” at Essex University in the United Kingdom. In his lecture, Baudrillard talked around his now famous book America (published in French in 1986 and in English in 1988) in which he argued that the fascination and catastrophe of America is its hyperreality, which allows the idea and paradox that there utopia has been achieved. The lecture was subsequently translated by David Macey and published in the journal Economy & Society. However, the questions and answers that the talk provoked—and that provided clarification of some of Baudrillard's central arguments about the hyperreality of America—have not been transcribed, and this is what is presented here.