Rógaire

Welcome to Rógaire, which hosts the literary and philosophical works of Paul R. Buckle (writing both as Paul Buckle and Paul Baden). The seven volumes here span a diverse range of forms—you’ll find, for example. the Victorian-style fable Cecil and the Little Lord, the absurdist drama The Third Party, the “constellational” assemblage of The Beast Machines, the fictional dystopias of Lobe, and the poetic meanderings of Barracuda Lemon Whale.

What unites the texts is their examination of the “soft-violence” of contemporary technocapitalism. Further, the works are intended to serve as what I refer to in Technoethics as “Enzymatic Knowledge Machines,” designed to catalyze creative ways of situating ourselves in what is a deceptively oppressive environment.

The books are offered as free PDFs on their respective pages. Links to paperbacks can be found below. For individual papers, including the essays from the collection Technoethics, readers can access my profile on Academia.edu . I also invite you to join the dialogue at The Philosophy Forum where, posting as Baden, I am a founding member and moderator and which provides a non-commercial platform for intellectual discussion

Rógaire, the Irish for Rogue

A note on the site moniker: ”Rógaire” is the Irish word for “Rogue” and while it would be the height of hubris to imagine myself deserving of such an esteemable description, I think I can, in my current state of de-institutionalisation, justify at least part claim to it.

The Artist as Rogue Púca

There is an deep link between the notion of the Rogue and Art. Art is society’s shape shifting shadow that, like the Púca of Irish Folklore, presents itself only as it wishes to be seen, and so retains its freedom and dynamism. The Artist as Púca is a rogue force: a fox, a rabbit, a hare, a trickster beast that steals a glimpse and then is gone, an untamed mystery that disturbs the social, manifesting mutability, change, and progress, and without which society and culture would stagnate and die.

Rogue Works

Works of art then are inherently roguish, and needed now as much as ever, paticularly under the homogenizing forces of technology and globalisation. The Púca is always around somewhere—wherever there’s a shadow, it may lurk—but under the bright screens of contemporary life, these mysterious creatures are ever harder to find. Nevertheless, I hope you’ll find some of its spirit here in my own work or in that of the Irish Rógairí I give due homage to. As always, read, share, rogue.