Literary Theory after Populism
The article proposes three theses on the status of literary and critical theory after the populist incursions of the “long 2016.” First: that an already-ailing “theory” failed to distinguish itself from professional class anti-populism during the political upheavals of Trump, Brexit, Corbyn, Bernie...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Institute of English Studies
2024-10-01
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| Series: | Anglica. An International Journal of English Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://anglica-journal.com/resources/html/article/details?id=625743 |
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| author | James A. Smith |
| author_facet | James A. Smith |
| author_sort | James A. Smith |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The article proposes three theses on the status of literary and critical theory after the populist incursions of the “long 2016.” First: that an already-ailing “theory” failed to distinguish itself from professional class anti-populism during the political upheavals of Trump, Brexit, Corbyn, Bernie Sanders, and others. Second: that there is within literary theory’s history a concealed tradition of “literary populism”; the normative belief that good or desirable writing has some surreptitious connection to the idioms of ordinary people. And third: that there are lessons to learn from the broadly forgotten episode of Terry Eagleton’s critique of Raymond Williams in the late 1970s – where the charge was that Williams himself was a populist. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-5f60f4d1ea8c49dc8d2ca1e1d48a093b |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0860-5734 2957-0905 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-10-01 |
| publisher | Institute of English Studies |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Anglica. An International Journal of English Studies |
| spelling | doaj-art-5f60f4d1ea8c49dc8d2ca1e1d48a093b2025-01-13T21:48:47ZengInstitute of English StudiesAnglica. An International Journal of English Studies0860-57342957-09052024-10-01333415910.7311/0860-5734.33.3.04Literary Theory after PopulismJames A. Smith0https://orcid.org/0009-0002-2736-865XUniversity of LondonThe article proposes three theses on the status of literary and critical theory after the populist incursions of the “long 2016.” First: that an already-ailing “theory” failed to distinguish itself from professional class anti-populism during the political upheavals of Trump, Brexit, Corbyn, Bernie Sanders, and others. Second: that there is within literary theory’s history a concealed tradition of “literary populism”; the normative belief that good or desirable writing has some surreptitious connection to the idioms of ordinary people. And third: that there are lessons to learn from the broadly forgotten episode of Terry Eagleton’s critique of Raymond Williams in the late 1970s – where the charge was that Williams himself was a populist.https://anglica-journal.com/resources/html/article/details?id=625743literary theorypopulismelitismjoseph northraymond williamsterry eagleton |
| spellingShingle | James A. Smith Literary Theory after Populism Anglica. An International Journal of English Studies literary theory populism elitism joseph north raymond williams terry eagleton |
| title | Literary Theory after Populism |
| title_full | Literary Theory after Populism |
| title_fullStr | Literary Theory after Populism |
| title_full_unstemmed | Literary Theory after Populism |
| title_short | Literary Theory after Populism |
| title_sort | literary theory after populism |
| topic | literary theory populism elitism joseph north raymond williams terry eagleton |
| url | https://anglica-journal.com/resources/html/article/details?id=625743 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jamesasmith literarytheoryafterpopulism |