The special issue of Boundary 2, titled Critical Secularism, gathers esteemed scholars in cultural studies and literary theory to examine and challenge the prevalent narratives of secularization in contemporary culture. Through various essays, it explores the complexities and implications of secularism, encouraging a re-evaluation of its role in shaping modern societal narratives.
A new vision of politics “below the radar” One way to grasp the nature of politics is to understand the key terms in which it is discussed. Unexceptional Politics develops a political vocabulary drawn from a wide range of media (political fiction, art, film, and TV), highlighting the scams, imbroglios, information trafficking, brinkmanship, and parliamentary procedures that obstruct and block progressive politics. The book reviews and renews modes of thinking about micropolitics that counter notions of the “state of exception” embedded in theories of the “political” from Thomas Hobbes to Carl Schmitt. Emily Apter develops a critical model of politics behind the scenes, a politics that operates outside the norms of classical political theory. She focuses on micropolitics, defined as small events, happening in series, that often pass unnoticed yet disturb and interfere with the institutional structures of capitalist parliamentary systems, even as they secure their reproduction and longevity. Apter’s experimental glossary is arranged under headings that look at the apparently incidental, immaterial, and increasingly virtual practices of politicking: “obstruction,” “obstinacy,” “psychopolitics,” “managed life,” “serial politics.” Such terms frame an argument for taking stock of the realization that we really do not know what politics is, where it begins and ends, or how its micro-events should be described.
On the problems of translation in literary study.
Exploring the concept of Weltliteratur, this work delves into how Goethe's ideas intersect with the cultural dynamics of globalization. It examines the influence of literature across borders and its role in shaping cultural identities in a global context. The book highlights the interplay between local traditions and global narratives, offering insights into the evolution of literature and its capacity to foster cross-cultural understanding. Through a critical lens, it addresses the implications of globalization on literary expression and reception.
Organized around a series of propositions that range from the idea that nothing is translatable to the idea that everything is translatable, this book examines the vital role of translation studies in the invention of comparative literature as a discipline.