Browsing the archives for the The Believer category

Get with the program, people

in Mark McGurl, The Believer, The Program Era

Check it out: An interview I conducted with UCLA English Professor Mark McGurl has just been released in this month’s Believer magazine. The original interview was fairly far-reaching and lively, but has here been shortened to a still-lively-even-if-slightly-less-far-reaching “micro-interview,” spread through the May issue. When you’re done reading the interview, do also check out Mark’s […]

Postironic Obama

in Barack Obama, postirony, The Believer

A few months ago, I received an email asking whether I thought Barack Obama might be something like a postironic presidential candidate. I ignored the email at the time, too busy doing research on trendspotters and writing Pop Apocalypse (a decidedly ironic book). After the caucuses in Iowa, I listened to Obama’s victory speech on […]

Postironic Obama

in Barack Obama, postirony, The Believer

A few months ago, I received an email asking whether I thought Barack Obama might be something like a postironic presidential candidate. I ignored the email at the time, too busy doing research on trendspotters and writing Pop Apocalypse (a decidedly ironic book). After the caucuses in Iowa, I listened to Obama’s victory speech on […]

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Enter the Snark

in believer, Dave Eggers, postirony, The Believer, Wipe That Smirk Off Your Face

What should the critic of postironic fiction (i.e., me) make of this American Scholar article by Melvin Jules Bukiet? You can see it from Manhattan if you look carefully across the East River. You can even go there if you follow a young couple (he’s got a goatee and she has a ponytail) onto the […]

Enter the Snark

in believer, Dave Eggers, postirony, The Believer, Wipe That Smirk Off Your Face

What should the critic of postironic fiction (i.e., me) make of this American Scholar article by Melvin Jules Bukiet? You can see it from Manhattan if you look carefully across the East River. You can even go there if you follow a young couple (he’s got a goatee and she has a ponytail) onto the […]