American literature and the long downturn : neoliberal apocalypse PDF
Preview American literature and the long downturn : neoliberal apocalypse
OUPCORRECTEDAUTOPAGEPROOFS–FINAL,24/12/2019,SPi American Literature and the Long Downturn OUPCORRECTEDAUTOPAGEPROOFS–FINAL,24/12/2019,SPi OUPCORRECTEDAUTOPAGEPROOFS–FINAL,23/12/2019,SPi American Literature and the Long Downturn Neoliberal Apocalypse DAN SINYKIN 1 OUPCORRECTEDAUTOPAGEPROOFS–FINAL,24/12/2019,SPi 3 GreatClarendonStreet,Oxford,OX26DP, UnitedKingdom OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford. ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship, andeducationbypublishingworldwide.Oxfordisaregisteredtrademarkof OxfordUniversityPressintheUKandincertainothercountries ©DanielSinykin2020 Themoralrightsoftheauthorhavebeenasserted FirstEditionpublishedin2020 Impression:1 Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedin aretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,withoutthe priorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress,orasexpresslypermitted bylaw,bylicenceorundertermsagreedwiththeappropriatereprographics rightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproductionoutsidethescopeofthe aboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment,OxfordUniversityPress,atthe addressabove Youmustnotcirculatethisworkinanyotherform andyoumustimposethissameconditiononanyacquirer PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyOxfordUniversityPress 198MadisonAvenue,NewYork,NY10016,UnitedStatesofAmerica BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData Dataavailable LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2019946127 ISBN978–0–19–885270–4 DOI:10.1093/oso/9780198852704.001.0001 PrintedandboundinGreatBritainby ClaysLtd,ElcografS.p.A. LinkstothirdpartywebsitesareprovidedbyOxfordingoodfaithand forinformationonly.Oxforddisclaimsanyresponsibilityforthematerials containedinanythirdpartywebsitereferencedinthiswork. OUPCORRECTEDAUTOPAGEPROOFS–FINAL,24/12/2019,SPi formyparents OUPCORRECTEDAUTOPAGEPROOFS–FINAL,24/12/2019,SPi OUPCORRECTEDAUTOPAGEPROOFS–FINAL,24/12/2019,SPi Acknowledgments I want to thank Kevin Attell, Jeremy Braddock, Cathy Caruth, and Dagmawi Woubshet for guiding me from the beginning. To find such fabulousmentorswasanincrediblestrokeofluck. At Cornell, Joel Anderson, Adhaar Desai, Luke Donohue, Megan Kruer, and Adin Lears were constant friends, who, over many dinners and drinks, talked ideas and told me when I was wrong. Liz Blake, Michaela Brangan, Jacob Brogan, Carl Gelderloos, Diana Hamilton, James Ingoldsby, Thom May, Anna McCormick, and everyone in the BigFatPostwarAmericanNovelReadingGroupbroughttoscholarlylife camaraderieandjoy.IlearnedmuchfromtheTheoryReadingGroupin all its instantiations and want to thank, especially, Liron Mor and JohannesWankhammer.Thisbookbeganduringeveningconversations with Nathan Taylor on the porch of 118 Sears Street, where I first formulatedmostoftheseideas. AtGrinnell,thestudentsof“NeoliberalApocalypse”helpedmethink through the central questions of this book at a crucial stage. Steve AndrewsgavemethepushIneededtogetbacktoworkonthis. I spent a happy year at the College of Wooster rewriting and thank Anthony Tognazzini for our rich conversations. Leslie Wingard pro- vided important feedback on the first chapter. Laura Finch and Bertie Woostermadelifeextraordinary. At Notre Dame, Matt Wilkens was generous with his time, thought, andcounsel.CJJoneswasalwaysupforanenergeticconversationabout theoryoverdinner.FranciscoRoblesandBrandonMenkemademefeel athomeinSouthBend. As I moved between institutions, Post45 provided an intellectual home. I am especially grateful to Sarah Chihaya, Annie McClanahan, andRichardJeanSo. Itisfrighteningtomeetone’sacademicdopplegänger.Fortunatelyfor me,mineforthisbookisthebrilliantJessicaHurleywithwhomstudying contemporary apocalypticism became a communal project. Jonathan OUPCORRECTEDAUTOPAGEPROOFS–FINAL,24/12/2019,SPi viii Eburne was a dream editor for the special issue of ASAP/Journal, “Apocalypse,”thatJessandIco-edited. This book is much better than it would have been otherwise thanks to Eric Cheyfitz, Wai Chee Dimock, and Don Pease, whoread portions along the way and offered crucial feedback. I am indebted to the anonymous readers for Oxford University Press, my editor, Jacqueline Norton, and my copyeditor, Tim Beck, who pointed me in the right directions. Kevin McNellis has read more of this book more times than anyone. We often disagree, and that has made this book much more rigorous. ThankstoMarissaBrostoff,CoryCochrane,MikeLittell,NicoleNovak, andBenRatzlaff. Thanks to my family: my brothers, Andy and Alex, and my parents, StuandCarol. MashaVlasovaismyworld,which,despitethedarknesssurrounding us,isnowfulloflight. SomeofthisbookwaspreviouslypublishedandIgratefullyacknowledge permissiontorepublishhere.Mostofthismaterialhasbeenextensively revised. An excerpt from theintroduction appeared in The Washington Post as “This is the Philip Roth Novel that Explains Philip Roth.” An excerpt from Chapter1 appeared in Dissent as “The Apocalyptic Bald- win.”ExcerptsfromChapter2appearedinLosAngelesReviewofBooks as“CharlesMansonandtheApocalypsetoCome”and“Trumpandthe End Times.” An earlier version of Chapter3 appeared in American LiteraryHistoryas“EveninginAmerica:BloodMeridianandtheOrigins and Ends of Imperial Capitalism.” The editors there sharpened my arguments, polished my prose, and clarified my vision. The excerpt from “September 1, 1939,” © 1940 and renewed © 1968 by W. H. Auden, from Selected Poems by W. H. Auden, edited by Edward Mendelson, is used by permission of Vintage Books, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random HouseLLC.Allrightsreserved. OUPCORRECTEDAUTOPAGEPROOFS–FINAL,24/12/2019,SPi Contents Introduction 1 1. James Baldwin’s Apocalypse 23 2. White Rage, White Rapture 47 3. Evening in America 69 4. Human Capital 93 5. Almost Magic 123 Conclusion 149 Works Cited 161 Index 175
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