An American Utopia - by Fredric Jameson (Paperback)

About the Book

"Controversial manifesto by acclaimed cultural theorist debated by leading writers Fredric Jameson's path-breaking essay An American Utopia radically questions standard leftist notions of an eman-cipated society, advocating--among other things--universal conscription as the model for the communist reorganization of soci-ety, fully acknowledging envy and resentment as the central problem of a communist society, and rejecting the dreams of over-coming the division between work and leisure. Endorsing the axiom that to change the world one should begin by changing our dreams about how we imagine an emancipated society, Jameson's text is ideally placed to trigger a debate on possible and imag-inable alternatives to global capitalism. In addition to Jameson's essay, the volume brings reactions to it by philosophers and political and cultural analysts, as well as an epilogue from Jameson. Many will be appalled at what they will encounter--there will be blood. But what if one has to spill such (ideological) blood to give the left a new chance? Contributors include Kim Stanley Robinson, Jodi Dean, Saroj Giri, Agon Hamza, Kojin Karatani, Frank Ruda, Alberto Toscano, Kathi Weeks, and Slavoj

Book Synopsis

Controversial manifesto by acclaimed cultural theorist debated by leading writers

Fredric Jameson's pathbreaking essay "An American Utopia" radically questions standard leftist notions of what constitutes an emancipated society. Advocated here are--among other things--universal conscription, the full acknowledgment of envy and resentment as a fundamental challenge to any communist society, and the acceptance that the division between work and leisure cannot be overcome. To create a new world, we must first change the way we envision the world. Jameson's text is ideally placed to trigger a debate on the alternatives to global capitalism. In addition to Jameson's essay, the volume includes responses from philosophers and political and cultural analysts, as well as an epilogue from Jameson himself.

Many will be appalled at what they will encounter in these pages--there will be blood! But perhaps one has to spill such (ideological) blood to give the Left a chance.

Contributing are Kim Stanley Robinson, Jodi Dean, Saroj Giri, Agon Hamza, Kojin Karatani, Frank Ruda, Alberto Toscano, Kathi Weeks, and Slavoj Žižek.

Review Quotes

"In An American Utopia, Jameson affirms the critical function of utopian thinking and the efficacies of the form itself. He insists that the fundamental function of utopias is to revive a sense of the future, which requires taking aim at the forces that prevent us from venturing out from the comfortingly familiar confines of the present."
--Kathi Weeks

"Jameson ... gives us good reasons to call back utopia from obscurity."
--Rain Taxi

About the Author

Fredric Jameson is Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature at Duke University. The author of numerous books, he has over the last three decades developed a richly nuanced vision of Western culture's relation to political economy. He was a recipient of the 2008 Holberg International Memorial Prize. He is the author of many books, including Postmodernism, Or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, The Cultural Turn, A Singular Modernity, The Modernist Papers, Archaeologies of the Future, Brecht and Method, Ideologies of Theory, Valences of the Dialectic, The Hegel Variations and Representing Capital.

Slavoj Žižek is a Slovenian philosopher and cultural critic. He is a professor at the European Graduate School, International Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, Birkbeck College, University of London, and a sen-ior researcher at the Institute of Sociology, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. His books include Living in the End Times, First as Tragedy, Then as Farce, In Defense of Lost Causes, four volumes of the Essential Žižek, and many more.