After Theory
August 05, 2004
tNP Contributing Editor Eugene McCarraher reviews Terry Eagleton’s book After Theory in the May/June issue of Books and Culture:
“Eagleton himself observes that postmodern nihilism supplies high-octane fuel for consumer culture. Indeed, ‘no way of life in history has been more in love with transgression and transformation’ than capitalism, whose ever-more untrammeled enlistment of fantasy and desire leaves pomo partisans the harmless task of shocking yesteryear’s bourgeoisie. Safely imprisoned in the winter palaces of departments and administration, the radoisie rearranges the Feng Shui of academic life. They rail against the tyranny of hierarchy while forming tenure committees and write reams of footnoted, peer-reviewed articles on the indeterminacy of truth.”
In the latest (August/September) issue of First Things, the redoubtable Paul J. Griffiths covers Eagleton and others mentioned in After Theory and McCarraher’s review at greater length. Currently available in print, you can read it online in a month or so.
This is After Theory in The Japery, a part of The New Pantagruel. Previously: The Carnivalesque: Not Just for Catholics | Next: Quaffing Immortality | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)
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