Selective Affinities: Literature and New Critical Theory

Rita Felski’s new work brings literary studies into conversation with more affirmative and democratic forms of critical theory.

Literary critics associate the phrase “Frankfurt School” with early twentieth-century thinkers like Adorno or Benjamin, but contemporary German critical theory remains largely unknown. In this new book, Rita Felski draws on the work of a group of important philosophers and social theorists to offer fresh readings of literary texts by Robert Walser, Didier Eribon, Z...