Literature contra Postmodernity

This article, featured in a literary magazine, highlights the issue of literary stagnation within the ideology of late capitalism. It argues that postmodernism has descended into a realm of helpless relativism and critique without construction, thereby leading to the depoliticization of the literary sphere and its transformation into a cultural product. In light of Alain Badiou’s concept of the evental site and Fredric Jameson’s thoughts on the political unconscious, the article suggests that all literature is inevitably ideological. However, it posits that such literature as Beckett’s, Pessoa’s, and Stevens’ demonstrates the ontologically unfinished state of modern narratives and can consequently produce a literary revolution through its ability to rupture the prevailing order. Overall, the article calls for a disruptive literature that will contest the ideological boundaries of today in an attempt to find the “truth” of being in the face of a global existential crisis.