Building upon Nietzsche's fatal confrontation The Wanderer and His Shadow and Jacques Derrida's initiation of the era in critical theory with the formulation The outside is the inside, the author pursues the vicussitudes of the dimensional frontier in a range of artifacts and authors.
The book explores the evolving role of the critic in contemporary literature, emphasizing the integration of philosophical and poetic insights with close reading techniques. It examines influential thinkers like Benjamin, Derrida, Deleuze, and Guattari, highlighting the complexities of criticism in a post-World War II context. A significant chapter focuses on Derrida's impact on the understanding of religion, while the Afterword discusses the Romantic notion of the fragment and its relevance to modern discourses. The work underscores the critical importance of the critic's multifaceted approach today.
The book explores the troubling rise of anti-intellectualism, examining its impact on politics, law, and culture. Through a blend of personal anecdotes, reportage, and memoir, the author reflects on the erosion of impartiality and the prevalence of self-serving motives in public discourse. It also addresses the normalization of narcissism and the rejection of scientific and scholarly contributions, prompting readers to confront these pressing societal issues and their implications for intellectual discourse.
Focusing on the evolution of information and communication, this work provides a comprehensive examination of the book's enduring relevance amidst technological changes. It explores the current state and future possibilities of the book as a medium, addressing its traditions and transformations in a rapidly shifting landscape. Through a theoretical lens, it invites readers to consider the implications of these changes for the future of reading and literature.
Veteran scholar and critic Henry Sussman deploys anecdote, reportage, and memoir to lament and scrutinize the rise of anti-intellectualism in the past few decades. How are we to reckon with the decline of impartiality and sharp increase in self-interested interference in politic, legal, and cultural spheres; the normalization of pathological narcissism in public life; and the blanket dismissal of scientific findings and their counterparts in the humanities and social sciences?In retracing his own intellectual and experiential steps, Sussman revisits many of his lasting inspirations, including Walter Benjamin, Jacques Derrida, Douglas R. Hofstadter, Immanuel Kant, and J. Hillis Miller. The result is an intellectual meditation on 'the great dismissal,' in public and political life, of venerable and vital humanistic traditions, ethics, and ways of thinking.