The Point Is There Is No Point: Miasmic Cynicism and Cultural Studies Composition.
2002; University of Pittsburgh Press; Volume: 22; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0731-6755
Autores Tópico(s)Contemporary Literature and Criticism
ResumoLit is possible to identify the dominant structure of feeling of an era, our postmodern period might be classified as the Age of Miasmic Cynicism. This is certainly an arguable classification among cultural theorists who might instead name melancholia, fear, rage, or even boredom as primary affective modalities of our time.1 However, though miasmic cynicism may not be the umbrella affect under which all other emotional identifi cations form, its allusion to lethargic, potentially lethal haze of skeptical distrust and anxious pessimism certainly seems apropos for this cultural moment?a moment when Gloria Steinem, that maven of 1970s feminist anti-advertising, stares vacuously from Coach purse ad that describes her simply as writer; moment when president and his cigar enjoy brief but memorable extramarital romp with an intern who in turn enjoys brief but memorable stint as Jenny Craig Weight Loss Center spokeswoman; moment when Jerry Springer's sincere insincerity wins higher Nielsen ratings than Oprah's insincere sincerity.2 Given the bizarre, crazy-making proliferation of such cultural events, it seems quite reasonable that the ambient blur of cynicism would prevail in contempo rary U.S. emotion culture. Miasmic cynicism permeates our classrooms, our institutional and personal relationships, our field. Perhaps nowhere is it more prevalent in composition studies than in recent critiques of cultural studies ap proaches to composition. It's hard not to feel cynical about the dizzying proliferation of cultural studies work, proliferation that certainly reflects a postmodern sensibility that delights in ephemerality and the commodification of culture (Faigley 16). The profit-driven textbook industry markets dozens of cultural studies readers featuring snazzy
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