The Novel – Thomas Travers

The Many versus the Few: Under the Greenwood Tree

In an era in which cultural production appears subordinate to the demands of intellectual property, with its preference for franchises, remakes, reboots, sequels, and prequels, it is perhaps not all that surprising that the ‘origin story’ has displaced the personal bio in explaining our interests, passions, and attachments. Encompassing everyday phenomena from sports fandom toContinue reading “The Many versus the Few: Under the Greenwood Tree”

Playground

For the past year I have been working (in an administrative capacity) for an ocean science master’s program based on the Cote d’Azur. Amongst many unexpected scenarios, the job has also provided me with a crash course in a set of concepts, practices, and terminology that at times has felt otherworldly: what exactly is aContinue reading “Playground”

Peripheralizing DeLillo – An Introduction

The below is a copy of a talk I gave at the Marxism in Culture seminar series on the 7th of July 2023. I would like to thank Antigoni Memou and Andy Murray for helping to organise the talk, David Cunningham for agreeing to act as a discussant, and Barry Dean and Toby Manning forContinue reading “Peripheralizing DeLillo – An Introduction”

Beamed in Ahead of Schedule: The Novel After Value

The below is an extended version of a talk I gave at the University of Warwick on the 7th of June 2023 as part of the Capitalism and Crisis seminar series organised by Will Berrington. I would like to thank Will for the invitation to present and participate in the series, and my co-panelist onContinue reading “Beamed in Ahead of Schedule: The Novel After Value”

Organising the Present – Part One

Reflections on Political Formalism in Hwang Sok-yong’s At Dusk and Ricardo Piglia’s The Way Out In recent years, the prevailing theoretical trends within literary studies have consistently undersold the value and world-making capacities of humanities scholarship. Rather than study the forms through which literature builds and models social relations, critics have been enthralled to aContinue reading “Organising the Present – Part One”