Infinity for Marxists: Essays on Poetry and Capital

275 Pages·2023·1.043 MB·English

by  Christopher Nealon

InfinityforMarxists
Historical Materialism
Book Series
EditorialBoard
LorenBalhorn(Berlin)
DavidBroder(Rome)
SebastianBudgen(Paris)
SteveEdwards(London)
JuanGrigera(London)
MarcelvanderLinden(Amsterdam)
PeterThomas(London)
GavinWalker(Montréal)
volume 281
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isbn978-90-04-53684-5(hardback)
isbn978-90-04-53685-2(e-book)
Copyright2023byChristopherNealon.PublishedbyKoninklijkeBrillnv,Leiden,TheNetherlands.
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If theinfiniteisunknowable,wearepowerless.Forourconceptof
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gillianrose
∵

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1 CampMessianism,ortheHopesofPoetryinLate-Late
Capitalism 13
2 ThePoeticCase 35
3 ReadingonTheLeft 58
4 Affect,Performativity,andActuallyExistingPoetry 89
5 InfinityforMarxists 107
6 ThePrynneReflex 126
7 ThePriceofValue 145
8 TheAnti-humanistTone 158
9 Modernism,CriticalTheory,andtheDesireforObjecthood 174
10 LiteraryandEconomicValue(withJoshuaClover) 195
11 Abstraction,Intuition,Poetry 214
References 247
Index 260

Acknowledgments
Iamgratefultotheeditorsofthejournalsandvolumesinwhichtheseessays
firstappeared,andtoanonymousreviewerswhoreadthem.Theyareasfol-
lows:
‘CampMessianism,OrTheHopesofPoetryinLate-LateCapitalism’:American
Literature(2004)76(3):579–602
‘ThePoeticCase’:CriticalInquiry(2007)33(4):865–86
‘ReadingonTheLeft’:Representations(2009)108(1):22–50
‘Affect,Performativity,andActuallyExistingPoetry’:TextualPractice(2011)25
(2):265–83
‘InfinityforMarxists’:Mediations:JournaloftheMarxistLiteraryGroup(online,
2015):47–64
‘ThePrynneReflex’:TheClaudiusApp(online,2013).
‘ThePriceofValue’:inRónánMcDonalded.,TheValuesofLiteraryStudies:Crit-
icalInstitutions,ScholarlyAgendas(Cambridge:Cambridgeup,2015):91–104
‘TheAntihumanistTone’:inAlexHouened.,AffectandLiterature(Cambridge:
Cambridgeup,2020):267–83.
‘Modernism, CriticalTheory, Rhetoric’: in Stefanos Geroulanos, Peter Struck,
andSophiaRosenfeld,eds.ACulturalHistoryofIdeas(Bloomsbury,2021)
‘LiteraryandEconomicValue’:OxfordResearchEncyclopediaofLiterature(on-
line,2017)
‘Abstraction,Intuition,Poetry’:elh88.2(Summer2021):387–420.
Ihavebenefittedovertheyearsfromthegenerosityofmoreinterlocutorsthan
Icanrecall,butIwouldespeciallyliketothankmystudentsandcolleagues,
present and former, at uc Berkeley and Johns Hopkins.Thanks to Sebastian
Budgen,SteveEdwards,andDannyHaywardatBrillandtheHistoricalMater-
ialism Book Series, for enabling me to pull these essays together in a single
volume,andtoAlexLewisforhisexpertcopyeditingof thefinalmanuscript.
Thanks,finally,tothemanyauthorsof hmvolumeswhoseworkhaschanged
howIthinkandwriteaboutcapitalism.Iamhonouredtobeinyourcompany.