IMMEDIACY: OR, THE STYLE OF TOO LATE CAPITALISM, Anna Kornbluh

An extraordinarily difficult book to write about, even though I really liked it.

The idea is that direct literalness, surface and flow, self-identity and self-ramifying truth claim, negation and “the real” are the hallmarks of the present condition – in fact, that a total present is all there is — and art, fiction and medium and their functions of relating and speculating and sparking uncomfortable ideas have been tossed away. Everything is awful: soak in it.

Kornbluh has a vocabulary I can only dream of – in some sections I was going to the dictionary every five minutes – but it is a fun and fierce read. Her Marxism rises to the surface only occasionally, and a strong part of her argument is political: she feels like the current cultural climate is against organising, for example. But her point about negation of any possible way forward is well made.

She lays into all kinds of things with great gusto – her flensings of autofiction and autotheory are greatly entertaining and sometimes much deserved – but she walks critical theory back a bit by insisting on establishing foundations and building on to them. As much as she visibly enjoys cutting the fingers off idiots, her project is constructive. And in the course of the book she casts interesting light on a great many things, from streaming to the selfie.

Might be the best non-fiction book I’ve read all year.

IMMEDIACY, OR, THE STYLE OF TOO LATE CAPITALISM (UK) (US+)