Turnstile, Rupture, Salamander: Critique's Changing Energetics

Has critique run out of steam, as Bruno Latour famously proclaimed? Or has critique, like all historical practices, simply evolved? Latour's mention of steam suggests that critique may be regarded as a form of energetics with specific modes of productivity, movement, dysfunction, and even exhaustion. In this essay, I follow this hint by turning to several key moments of critique, to reflect on the forms of energies they bring to humanistic studies and the intellectual implications involved. Major theorists discussed include Roland Barthes, Jacques Derrida, and Catherine Malabou.

Duke Scholars

Author Rey Chow Literature