Reaganism in Literary Theory: Negative Moralism and Hermeneutic Suspicion

An enlightening study that explains how negative moralism shelters professional privilege and competition from scrutiny

Largely erased from disciplinary memory, Paul de Man’s replacement of canon with literariness as the object of literary studies preserved a discourse of devotion and disqualification homologous with Reaganism. This negative moralism shelters professional privilege and competition from scrutiny, supported by misrecognitions like hermeneutic suspicion, materiality, and identity politics.