After Critique identifies an ontological turn in contemporary U.S. fiction that distinguishes our current literary moment from both postmodernism and so-called post-postmodernism. This turn to ontology takes many forms, but in general After Critique highlights a body of literature--work from Colson Whitehead, Uzodinma Iweala, Karen Yamasthia, Helena Viramontes, Percival Everett, Mat Johnson, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Tom McCarthy--that favors presence over absence, being over meaning, and connection over reference. These authors' interest in producing literary value ontologically rather than representationally stems from their sense that neoliberalism's capacious grasp on contemporary language and discourse--its ability to control both sides of a conceptual debate or argument--has made it nearly impossible to write beyond neoliberalism's grip. This is particularly distressing for authors invested in contemporary politics as neoliberalism renders any number of political problems circularly undecidable. Taking up four different political themes--human rights, the relation between public and private space, racial justice, and environmentalism--After Critique suggests that the ontological forms emerging in contemporary U.S. fiction articulate a version of politics that might successfully evade neoliberal appropriation. This is a politics which replaces critique and its reliance on representation with ontology and its ever-shifting configurations and assemblages.

About the Author
Mitchum Huehls is Visiting Assistant Professor at UCLA.

Reviews
Huehls's erudite close-readings successfully demonstrate the contemporary authors have utilized the unique aesthetic attributes of literature to consider new, post-critical ways to challenge neoliberal ontology. * Kieran Smith, American Book Review *
Provocative and engaging, After Critique raises, and goes a long way toward answering, crucial questions about what a twenty-first-century novel -- and a twenty-first-century politics -- must do * Gabriella Friedman, Multi-Ethnic Literature of the U.S *
After Critique is challenging and worthwhile, demanding much of the reader and offering provocative insights in return. * Ursula McTaggart, Contemporary Literature *



Book Information
ISBN 9780190456221
Author Mitchum Huehls
Format Hardback
Page Count 236
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 454g
Dimensions(mm) 157mm * 236mm * 25mm