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The wide-ranging scope of this small yet essential book, "Profanations" by Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben, attests to the depth and catholic nature of the author's thoughts on photography, the novel, and film that make up the book. Here Agamben rethinks approaches to a series of literary and philosophical problems: the relationship between genius, ego, and theories of subjectivity; the problem of messianic time as explicated in both images and lived experience; parody as a literary genre; the potential of magic to provide an ethical canon. However, the main locus of the work, its raison d'etre, are the essays on Foucault and the death of the author-function and "In Praise of Profanity," an essential essay concerning the 'cult' of capitalism and the best praxis by which it may be undermined. These two latter articles acutely delineate Agamben's own theories and ideas in a profoundly accessible manner, making real the concerns behind the ideas and the potential for growth through the cultivation of 'play' that is at the heart of Agamben's diagnosis. Here the reader recognizes Agamben's genius at analysis and diagnosis; like a skilled healer, his thought brings peace and understanding to the searcher for truth that we readers are. So, while the work is episodic and incomplete (ten non-connected chapters), the book still satisfies the need for understanding of profound philosophical ideas. This is a great book!