Are We Having Fun Yet? is a wild ride through the history of pop culture. In her analysis, Renko chooses intriguing companions, from the statue of Augustus of Prima Porta, shedding a completely new light on our perceptions of beauty and masculinity, to Lenin, who quite literally brought the October Revolution by train. Along the way, she delves into the fading legacy and relevance of James Bond, the avant-garde qualities of Gotham’s Joker, and ultimately steps into the hellish reality of Buffalo Bill and his traveling Wild West Show. The essay sharply observes how technology and the entertainment industry have fueled each other’s development, often with trauma as a byproduct. Throughout, Renko invites readers to ponder whether we can finally enjoy ourselves without being excessively moralistic. And, if so, at what cost?

Manca G. Renko is a historian, editor, and writer with a distinguished academic background. Her notable achievements include co-authoring international publications such as Socialist Women and the Great War (Bloomsbury Academic, 2022) and Texts and Contexts from the History of Feminism and Women’s Rights (CEU Press, 2024). She has also been awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Vienna. Renko takes pride in the fact that her academic writing has (so far) not destroyed her language and that the academic precariat has (so far) not broken her spirit. In 2024, she published her book of essays, Živalsko mesto: Eseji o popularni kulturi, zgodovini in čustvih (Animal City: Essays on Popular Culture, History, and Emotions).

100 x 260 mm
48 pages
Soft bound, two-color risograph
200 copies, October/November 2024
ISBN 978-961-95496-2-9
Translated by Olivia Hellewell