Theory in the 'Post' Era : A Vocabulary for the 21st-Century Conceptual Commons

__Theory in the "Post" Era__ brings together the work and perspectives of a group of Romanian theorists who discuss the morphings of contemporary theory in what the editors call the “post” era. Since the Cold War's end and especially in the third millennium, theorists have been exploring the aftermath - and sometimes just the “after” - of whole paradigms, the crisis or “passing” of anthropocentrism, the twilight of an entire ontological and cultural “condition,” as well as the corresponding rise of an antagonist model, of an “anti,” “meta,” or “neo” alternative, with examples ranging from “posthumanism” and “post-postmodernism” to “post-aesthetics,” “postanalog” interpretation or “digicriticism,” “post-presentism,” “post-memory,” “post-“ or “neo-critique,” and so forth. It is no coincidence, the contributors to this volume argue, that this “post” moment is also a time when theory is practiced as a __world genre__. If theory has always been a “worlded” enterprise, a quintessentially communal, cross-cultural and international project, this is truer at present than ever. Perhaps more than other humanist constituencies, today's theorists work and belong in a theory commons that is transnational if still uneven economically, politically, and otherwise. __Theory in the "Post" Era__ reports the results of Romanian theory experiments that join efforts made in other places to foster a theory for the “post” age. Notes on Contributors -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: Toward a "Post" Vocabulary: A Lab Report Alexandru Matei, Transilvania University of Brasov, Romania; Christian Moraru, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, USA; and Andrei Terian,Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania Part I: Aesthetics -- 1. Constructualism: Literary Evolution as Multiscalar Design Teodora Dumitru, G. Calinescu Institute of Literary History and Theory of the Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania -- 2. Post-Aesthetic: Literature, Ontology, and Criticism as Diplomacy Alexandru Matei, Transilvania University of Brasov, Romania -- 3. Eastethics: The Ideological Shift in Narratology Alex Goldis, Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania -- 4. Metapolitics: Recommitting Literature in the Populist Aftermath Ioana Macrea-Toma, Central European University of Budapest, Hungary -- 5. Communality: Un-Disciplining Race, Class, and Sex in the Wake of Anti- PC Monomania Andrei Terian, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania -- 6. Anarchetype: Reading Aesthetic Form after "Structure" Corin Braga, Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania -- Part II: Temporalities -- 7. Post-Synchronism: "Cultural Complex," or Critical Theory's Unfinished Business Carmen Musat, University of Bucharest, Romania -- 8. Post-Presentism: The Past, the Passed, and Now as Critical Operator Bogdan Cretu, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania -- 9. Postfuturism: Contemporaneity, Truth, and the End of World Literature Christian Moraru, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, USA -- 10. Post-Memory: The Labor of Critical Remembrance after Communism Andreea Mironescu, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania -- 11. Biofiction: Metamorphoses of Life-Writing across Criticism, Theory, and Literature Laura Cernat, Independent Scholar Part III: Critical Modes -- 12. Geocritique: Siting, Poverty, and the Global Southeast Stefan Baghiu, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu -- 13. Neocritique: Sherlock Holmes Investigates Literature Mihai Iovanel, G. Calinescu Institute of Literary History and Theory of the Romanian Academy -- 14. Digicriticism: Profession On(the)Line Adriana Stan, Sextil Puscariu Institute of Linguistics and Literary History of the Romanian Academy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania -- 15. Somatography: Writing as Incorporated Cognition, or the Body Knows More Caius Dobrescu, University of Bucharest, Romania -- 16. Post-Canonicity: Curating World Literary Archives after Postmodernism Cosmin Borza, Sextil Puscariu Institute of Linguistics and Literary History of the Romanian Academy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania -- Bibliography -- Index Shortlisted for the AATSEEL 2022 Award for Best Edited Multi-Author Scholarly Volume ( AATSEEL is The American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages) Theory in the "Post" Era brings together the work and perspectives of a group of Romanian theorists who discuss the morphings of contemporary theory in what the editors call the "post" era. Since the Cold War's end and especially in the third millennium, theorists have been exploring the aftermath - and sometimes just the "after" - of whole paradigms, the crisis or "passing" of anthropocentrism, the twilight of an entire ontological and cultural "condition," as well as the corresponding rise of an antagonist model, of an "anti," "meta," or "neo" alternative, with examples ranging from "posthumanism" and "post-postmodernism" to "post-aesthetics," "postanalog" interpretation or "digicriticism," "post-presentism," "post-memory," "post-" or "neo-critique," and so forth. It is no coincidence, the contributors to this volume argue, that this "post" moment is also a time when theory is practiced as a world genre . If theory has always been a "worlded" enterprise, a quintessentially communal, cross-cultural and international project, this is truer at present than ever. Perhaps more than other humanist constituencies, today's theorists work and belong in a theory commons that is transnational if still uneven economically, politically, and otherwise. Theory in the "Post" Era reports the results of Romanian theory experiments that join efforts made in other places to foster a theory for the "post" age. "Theory in the "Post" Era brings together the work and perspectives of a group of Romanian theorists who discuss the morphings of contemporary theory in what the editors call the "post" era. Since the Cold War's end and especially in the third millennium, theorists have been exploring the aftermath - and sometimes just the "after" - of whole paradigms, the crisis or "passing" of anthropocentrism, the twilight of an entire ontological and cultural "condition," as well as the corresponding rise of an antagonist model, of an "anti," "meta," or "neo" alternative, with examples ranging from "posthumanism" and "post-postmodernism" to "post-aesthetics," "postanalog" interpretation or "digicriticism," "post-presentism," "post-memory," "post-" or "neo-critique," and so forth. It is no coincidence, the contributors to this volume argue, that this "post" moment is also a time when theory is practiced as a world genre. If theory has always been a "worlded" enterprise, a quintessentially communal, cross-cultural and international project, this is truer at present than ever. Perhaps more than other humanist constituencies, today's theorists work and belong in a theory commons that is transnational if still uneven economically, politically, and otherwise. Theory in the "Post" Era reports the results of Romanian theory experiments that join efforts made in other places to foster a theory for the "post" age"-- Provided by publisher Theory in the "Post" Era brings together the work and perspectives of a group of Romanian theorists who discuss the morphings of contemporary theory in what the editors call the "post" era. Since the Cold War's end and especially in the third millennium, theorists have been exploring the aftermath - and sometimes just the "after" - of whole paradigms, the crisis or "passing" of anthropocentrism, the twilight of an entire ontological and cultural "condition," as well as the corresponding rise of an antagonist model, of an "anti," "meta," or "neo" alternative, with examples ranging from "posthumanism" and "post-postmodernism" to "post-aesthetics," "postanalog" interpretation or "digicriticism," "post-presentism," "post-memory," "post-" or "neo-critique," and so forth. 0 It is no coincidence, the contributors to this volume argue, that this "post" moment is also a time when theory is practiced as a world genre. If theory has always been a "worlded" enterprise, a quintessentially communal, cross-cultural and international project, this is truer at present than ever. Perhaps more than other humanist constituencies, today's theorists work and belong in a theory commons that is transnational if still uneven economically, politically, and otherwise. Theory in the "Post" Era reports the results of Romanian theory experiments that join efforts made in other places to foster a theory for the "post" age Cover Contents Preface and Acknowledgments Introduction: Toward a “Post” Vocabulary—A Lab Report Part One Aesthetics 1 Constructalism: Literary Evolution as Multiscalar Design 2 Post-Aesthetics: Literature, Ontology, and Criticism as Diplomacy 3 Easthetics: The Ideological Shift in Narratology 4 Metapolitics: Recommitting Literature in the Populist Aftermath 5 Communality: Un-Disciplining Race, Class, and Sex in the Wake of Anti-“PC” Monomania 6 Anarchetype: Reading Aesthetic Form after “Structure” Part Two Temporalities 7 Post-Synchronism: “Cultural Complex,” or Critical Theory’s Unfinished Business 8 Post-Presentism: The Past, the Passed, and “Now” as Critical Operator 9 Postfuturism: Contemporaneity, Truth, and the End of World Literature 10 Post-Memory: The Labor of Critical Remembrance after Communism 11 Biofiction: Metamorphoses of Life-Writing across Criticism, Theory, and Literature Part Three Critical Modes 12 Geocritique: Siting, Poverty, and the Global Southeast 13 Neocritique: Sherlock Holmes Investigates Literature 14 Digicriticiam: Profession On(the)Line 15 Somatography: Writing as Incorporated Cognition, or The Body Knows More 16 Post-Canonicity: Curating World Literary Archives after Postmodernism Bibliography Contributors Index