How Postmodernism Killed Great Literature

> Today, the publishing industry as a whole turns its nose up to narratives that promote objective meaning.

> There’s a lot to unpack in that claim, but it is no accident that the publishing industry shies away from books that illustrate “the good life” in the Aristotelian sense.

Alright, let’s see what the comps are.

> These books will fade into oblivion in the next decade while great novels with moral messages—Anna Karenina, The Great Gatsby, East of Eden—will stay with us even after we leave this earth, for they are not only well-written but also meaningful.

Not one of these is about “the good life”! The Great Gatsby in particular is as close to a book about nihilism and hedonism as you can get, and was criticized in its own time for lacking morals.

So the essay is a little incoherent, a little “retvrn” to a past that doesn’t exist.

It’s convenient to blame Derrida, Barthes and Lyotard but my God, do the legwork to connect them to the thing you’re actually complaining about. If “English departments” are to blame for the nihilistic literature you don’t like, then show where that influence came from—the only connection the article provides is a flimsy “she also dislikes capitalism.” Moshfegh got her MFA from Brown, and last I checked there were few Derrida scholars there.

Most novelists these days don’t come from the university system, nor does theoretical literary criticism have much influence among the large publishers.

This is truly some ahistorical reactionary nonsense. I thought people got tired of complaining about “postmodernism” 30 years ago.

Yes, most art is bad! Historical art seems better because it has stood the test of time, and we don’t see the junk it outlived. Yawn.

FYI this site is a libertarian think tank that exists to attack contemporary state funded liberal arts higher education, in favor of higher ed as job training. From their About Us:

> Since 2003, the Martin Center has been a voice for excellence and accountability in higher education. We believe that higher education should equip students to flourish in their careers, embrace responsible citizenship, and grow as seekers of wisdom. We advocate responsible governance, viewpoint diversity, academic quality, cost-effective education solutions, and innovative market-based reform.

> In these endeavors, we are motivated by the principles that have traditionally guided public policy in the United States: limits on government; freedom to pursue goals through voluntary means, both for-profit and nonprofit; accountability through private property rights and contracts; and the belief that competition is an excellent regulating force.

Postmodernism is a pretty dead horse to beat on at this point. Once upon a time people in academia were afraid to call it out as nonsense, for fear of getting called too dumb to understand the "discourse". It's now widely derided by lefties as a 1980s CIA conspiracy to befuddle dissidents with bizarre logic puzzles and meaningless jargon.

It’s been acknowledged that Abstract Expressionism was partly a CIA op ( https://daily.jstor.org/was-modern-art-really-a-cia-psy-op/ ) probably along with other attempts at cultivating anti-Soviet “soft power.”

As for postmodernism or deconstruction, the connections are less clear. Derrida for instance had connections with American universities that themselves had government connections and funding sources, but I don’t know of any evidence of a direct link.