The exhortation to “read some effing Orwell!” is an old chestnut of the online left, whether ironic or sincere, or somewhere in between. But if we’re looking for a writer whose body of work truly anticipates the world we live in now – globalised, postcolonial, postmodern – we might instead turn to the American Marxist cultural critic Fredric Jameson.
He’s just turned 90 and, in characteristically productive style, has three new books out this year. But where to start? To get a grip on Jamesonian thought, Richard Hames invites Sianne Ngai and Matthew Beaumont, both incisive critics in their own right, to discuss the breadth of his life and work, from postmodernism to the political unconscious to Jaws.
Sianne and Matt recommend that new readers of Jameson start with The Geopolitical Aesthetic or the essay ‘Reification and Utopia in Mass Culture‘.
Read Sianne and Matt’s recent essays on Jameson over at the Verso blog.
Downstream: Is the World Really Run by a ‘Leftist Elite?’ w/ Matthew Goodwin
Novara FM: How to Blow Up The Box Office w/ Jordan Sjol
Novara FM: Eat Sleep Protest Repeat
Downstream: How We Ended Up With The Worst Media In The World w/ Ash Sarkar and Aaron Bastani
Novara FM: On The Frontiers of Deviance w/ Sita Balani
Downstream: The Housing Crisis Is Even Worse Than You Think w/ Vicky Spratt
Novara FM: Planet Of The Cops w/ William I. Robinson
Downstream: We Must Ban Private Schools w/ Richard Beard
Novara FM: The Long, Long Arm of the Law w/ Mark Neocleous
Downstream: Billions Will Die If They Don’t Listen To Us w/ Roger Hallam
Downstream: We Are on a Path Towards Authoritarianism w/ Mehdi Hasan
ACFM Trip 32: Myth
Downstream: The Truth About Snowflakes w/ Ash Sarkar, Aaron Bastani and Dalia Gebrial
Downstream: The Big Con w/ Mariana Mazzucato
Novara FM: Liberty, Democracy, Piracy w/ Marcus Rediker
Downstream: Britain Is Being Scammed by Landlords w/ Michael Walker
ACFM Microdose: Strikes On Screen
Downstream: The Truth About Conspiracies w/ Nicky Woolf
Novara FM: Abolition Pending Revolution w/ Shanice McBean and Aviah Day
Downstream: Why Britain Needs To Ditch the Monarchy w/ Graham Smith
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free