Full Description
Neoliberalism, Affect, and Twenty-First-Century Culture draws connections accross contemporary culture, neoliberalism and affect to address representations of the self-management of emotions in the workplace, in the personal sphere and in relation to aesthetic experiences such as sports and the arts.
One of the most salient aspects of neoliberalism is the way its pervasiveness extends to the personal sphere, subjecting it to market logics. Such omnipresence trains individuals to view themselves as competitive entrepreneurs in all facets of life including private emotions, which become commodities to be administered and owned. Thus, this collection addresses representations of the self-management of emotions in the workplace, personal sphere, and in relation to aesthetic experiences. Shows like Severance, novels like The Corrections, and exhibitions like MOCAK's Contemporary Models of Realism vividly illustrate - via different media and from different ideological perspectives - the centrality these points have come to retain in the arts.
This collection includes chapters from a broad range of fields including digital humanities, social sciences, politics, visual arts, performance arts, popular culture, psychology, philosophy, and economics. to explore the impact of neoliberalism through an unprecedentedly diverse array of artistic media and fields, spanning from children's literature to graphic novels, from sports fiction to videogames, from cinema to TV to the digital arts, with a particular focus on how aesthetic forms conjure instances of resistance. Furthermore, it showcases neoliberal mores in dialogue with several national cultures, particularly those of Japan and the United States.
Contents
Foreword by Kristian Shaw
Acknowledgements
Introduction: "It's the Economy, Stupid!"
Holly Parker (University of Lincoln, USA) and Tommaso Villa (Independent Scholar, USA)
Part I: Genre
1. From Satire to Utopia: Political Writing after Neoliberalism
Peter Conroy (Tsinghua University, China)
2. The Neoliberal Child: Performance, Productivity and Play in Contemporary Children's Literature
Tess Ezzy (University of New England, Australia)
3. Affective Impingements in Nina Cristante's The Richest Man in Babylon (2024) and Ilona Sagar's Correspondence O (2018)
Maria Walsh (University of the Arts, London, UK)
Part II: Emotional Management
4. The Hyper-Professional Sports Hero in the Work of David Foster Wallace
Tommaso Villa (Independent Scholar, USA)
5. Navigating Emotional Self-Management in Sally Rooney's Normal People (2018)
Holly Parker (University of Lincoln, USA)
6. Severance (2022-): Neoliberal Affect, the Split Subject and Marcuse's One-Dimensional Society
Jo Coghlan (University of New England, Australia)
Part III: Counter Cultures
7. Freedom and Its Discontents: Outlaw Entrepreneurship and Affective Strain in Sons of Anarchy (2008-14) and Breaking Bad (2008-13)
Elena Apostolaki (University of Cologne, Germany)
8. Neoliberal Ideologies in the Neon Lights: Identity Capitalisation and Community Commodification in the Yakuza Series (2005-16)
Julien Paret (Alliance University in Bangalore, India)
Part IV: Online
9. Self(ie)-care: Cruel Optimism in Recent Literary Depictions of the Internet Influencer
Helen Penet (Université de Lille, France)
10. On Living Online: Affective Self-Help and Lifestyle Communities on YouTube
Suhana Simran (Jamia Millia Islamia, India)
About the Contributors
Index
