The Work of Literature In an Age of Post-Truth

by Christopher Schaberg

What is the role of literary studies in an age of Twitter threads and viral news?

If the study of literature today is not just about turning to classic texts with age-old questions, neither is it a rejection of close reading or critical inquiry. Through the lived experience of a humanities professor in a rapidly changing world, this book explores how the careful study of literature and culture may be precisely what we need to navigate our dizzying epoch of post-truth politics and ecological urgency.

Genres: Literary Criticism, Writing, Politics, Nonfiction

168 pages, Hardcover

Published July 26, 2018

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a lovely and well-curated set of essays on the importance of teaching and literature in our age of post-truth. While some selections are just fun (who wouldn't love an essay on shopping at Walmart with Zizek?), most are profound and personal meditations on things that are likely to matter much to all humanities academics and probably should matter to all of us.

[Lucas Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author spoke at a student academic conference held at my school the year he published this book. The event was poorly attended, but I was very struck by his talk. He was natural and comfortable with an audience that was not fully comfortable with him. I'm sorry it took me at least two years to sit down and read this.

It is wide ranging, not quite personal essays, but very close. Much of the writing (or perhaps just the frequent trips to the woods of Northern Michigan) made me think of a more academic Anders Monson (I read Neck Deep last year, two years ago?).

I understand how a lot of folks would not connect with this. The three audiences the author outlines in the opening chapters are small, but I think they also sell the book short. This was great. Necessary.

[Vampire Who Baked · Rating 2 out of 5]

the key literary conceit of the extremely popular "stream of consciousness" style writing is that it ultimately needs to lead to a narrative -- either about the writer's frame of mind or about the particular setting they are in (from their perspective). this is the fine line between "meditations" and "rambling", and most of these essays find themselves on the wrong side. like the first essay when he finds himself on the river bank and basically does an inventory of everything he sees without commenting on any of it -- it's a purely self indulgent exercise, and doesn't rise to profundity without the addition of "meaning" or "interpretation" (ironically, these terms are mentioned multiple times in the same essay).

the relevance to "post-truth" is extremely nebulous, with vague purely lexical connections to some trumpism (e.g. an essay on swamps -- an actual swamp from his college memories, as well as the "swampiness" of memory itself -- gets connected with "drain the swamp", which doesn't even work as a mixed metaphor?)

honestly this collection would have been better served if it were a set of blog posts/journal entries rather than a book. there's a great book waiting to be written about the relevance of literature in today's world (post-truth or otherwise) but this very much isn't it. the only honest part of the entire book was the prologue where the author mentions that the intended audience are his students and colleagues -- it's extra-textual information but maybe knowing the author personally is the way to enjoy this book?

for nature writing mixed with (admittedly outdated) politics, edward hoagland's essays might be more it