Summary of "What is Postcritique?"

Summary of What is Postcritique?

This video features an in-depth conversation with Ronan (last name not provided), a literary scholar, discussing the concept of postcritique—its origins, implications, and place within contemporary literary studies and the humanities.

Main Ideas and Concepts

1. Definition and Origins of Postcritique

Postcritique is a term that has emerged over the last decade, though its exact definition remains fluid and contested.
It is not simply anti-critique or a rejection of critique but can be seen as critique turning on itself—a response to the limitations and excesses of traditional critical methods.
Key influences include:
- Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s essay on “paranoid reading” (2004)
- Bruno Latour’s essay Has Critique Run Out of Steam?
- Rita Felski’s The Limits of Critique and her edited collection Critique and Postcritique
Postcritique arises from critical traditions deeply rooted in Marxism, psychoanalysis, and skepticism, which emphasize uncovering hidden ideologies beneath texts.

2. Critique vs. Postcritique

Traditional critique operates with a hermeneutic of suspicion, adopting a skeptical, detached, diagnostic stance toward texts (like a detective or doctor).
Postcritique challenges this by emphasizing:
- The affective, emotional, and pleasurable experiences of reading
- The importance of attachment, enchantment, and reparation rather than mere suspicion or debunking
- Recognizing that texts can move readers, form attachments, and provide enjoyment without always being objects of ideological critique
Postcritique advocates for a more humble, open, and less disdainful engagement with literature.

3. Enchantment and Sentimentality

The term enchantment is complex; it can mean both a positive emotional engagement and a potentially dangerous loss of critical distance.
Postcritique encourages acknowledging the imaginative and emotional stakes of reading without reducing literature to mere ideological artifacts.
It warns against sentimentalization but argues for valuing the pleasures and imaginative experiences literature offers.

4. Literary Value and Hierarchy

Postcritique does not reject the idea of literary value or hierarchy but reframes it:
- Literary value is understood as an event or experience rather than a fixed, timeless object.
- Readerly experience is central to how value is produced.
- There is recognition that hierarchies are inevitable because reading time and attention are limited.
The canon is seen as expanded and more inclusive, but selection and evaluation criteria remain necessary.
The discussion revisits figures like Matthew Arnold and I.A. Richards, suggesting their ideas are more complex and less reactionary than often portrayed.

5. Critique, Theory, and the Humanities

The rise of critical theory and post-structuralism in the 1960s–70s led to tensions within literary studies, including:
- The development of cultural studies (e.g., Raymond Williams), which broadened the scope beyond traditional literary texts
- Resistance from figures like Harold Bloom, who defended the canon against theory
Literary studies have always contained a tension between criticism (interpretive, theoretical) and scholarship (philological, empirical).
Recent trends include surface reading and genetic criticism, which sometimes align with postcritique’s goals.

6. Anti-Critique and Public Intellectuals

There has been a resurgence of anti-critique rhetoric from public intellectuals like Jordan Peterson and Steven Pinker.
Peterson’s popularity partly stems from his engagement with meaning, spirituality, and the numinous, areas often marginalized in critical theory.
Sam Harris represents a more scientific, liberal atheistic perspective.
The internet and platforms like YouTube have amplified these voices, challenging academic authority.

7. Future of Humanities and Literary Studies

The humanities face challenges from neoliberal university models, managerialism, and questions about relevance.
Despite this, universities remain conservative institutions resistant to rapid change.
The humanities can defend themselves by emphasizing their role in developing critical, adaptable skills for an uncertain future.
Critique has sometimes unintentionally aligned with neoliberal instrumentalism, emphasizing utility and emancipation in ways that mirror managerial rhetoric.
Postcritique offers a space for playfulness, openness, and non-instrumental engagement with literature.
There is a call to resist the instrumentalist mindset and reclaim the humanities as a space for living well, empathy, and deep engagement.

Methodological and Instructional Points

Understanding Postcritique:
- Recognize postcritique as a development from critique, not a rejection.
- Identify the limits of the hermeneutic of suspicion.
- Embrace affective and attachment-based readings alongside critical skepticism.
Engaging with Literary Works Postcritically:
- Allow space for emotional and pleasurable responses without immediate suspicion.
- Avoid sentimentalization but acknowledge the imaginative experience.
- Consider literary value as dynamic and reader-dependent, not fixed.
Navigating the Humanities Today:
- Defend humanities by emphasizing transferable critical skills.
- Resist purely instrumental or utilitarian approaches to knowledge.
- Promote interdisciplinarity while recognizing the value of disciplinary depth.
- Foster openness, play, and joy in literary engagement.

Speakers and Sources Featured

Ronan (main speaker, literary scholar; no last name given)
Key figures and theorists referenced:
- Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
- Bruno Latour
- Rita Felski
- Matthew Arnold
- I.A. Richards
- Raymond Williams
- Harold Bloom
- Franco Moretti
- Brian Boyd
- Joseph Carroll
- Jordan Peterson (public intellectual)
- Sam Harris (public intellectual)
- The Frankfurt School (Adorno mentioned)
- Paul Ricoeur
- Charlie Altieri
- Derrick Attritch

This conversation provides a nuanced overview of postcritique as an evolving approach in literary studies, highlighting its challenges to traditional critique, its embrace of readerly experience, and its relevance in the contemporary academic and cultural context.