Leaderian Studies Anthology

2011

For the Madman the Neighbor is Himself is a project that charts the conflicts of the so-called Cephalic Wars, with a particular emphasis on Mr. Leader, the main protagonist. Two years in the making, this project features several newsreels and short documentaries of the period as well as pages from the private journals of Mr. Leader and a wallpaper.

The project culminated in the book also entitled For The Madman the Neighbor is Himself published by Sputnik Press. This field-defining collection of texts consolidates and builds momentum in the expanding area of Leaderian studies. It draws from original sources, including vivid accounts from Mr. Leader himself, as well as academic studies and media coverage of the Cephalic Wars. In some ways it is a meditation on fate and free will. The result, the first coherent account of the archfiend of Mainland, is a fascinating study in the history of the modern mind.

Excerpt

INTRODUCTION

AFTER a century of neglect following the truce that ended the Cephalic Wars, the legacy of Mr. Leader’s ambition again comes to light. Recent conferences have stimulated reassessments by scholars of Leader’s larger achievement. There has been a surge of criticism of the proposed ideology, which brought to bear psychoanalytic, theological and national-historical interests. Leader’s is the story of a zealous disintegration of the individual subject – a tale of an outcast, at once terrifying, pitiful, and funny.

It is in this context that we propose a collection of documents dedicated to the life of Mr. Leader and the Cephalic Wars. In order to give a broad picture of the strange events that took place during the so-called Cephalic Wars, we have compiled never before seen excerpts of Mr. Leader’s notebooks, alongside with media coverage of the time, biographical analysis and academic studies on the subject.

This is by no means an exhaustive account of a subject that has been the inspiration for countless scholarly editions and works of fiction. It is a mere attempt to respond to the strange events that have again captivated the imagination of the public and will certainly continue to do so for generations to come. We hope that with this volume, the reader will be introduced to this fascinating period and perhaps feel compelled to pursue a more comprehensive study of the matter.