Would not that be true of most of the "culturalist" or "religious" Left that manufactures "imaginary revolutiuonary psycho-dramas" (to use Jacoby's term) in lieu of real political action?
As I mentioned Jacoby -- I just received the following opinion re. his latest book "The End of Utopia" from another Lefty (and more culturalist than lbo-talk) listserv. I know, I know, Jacoby is not kosher in the Left circles - but if his book (I have not read it yet) is saying saying what the enclosed excerpts suggests, does not he have a point?
wojtek
encl.
I was curious if anyone on the list has read Russell Jacoby's latest book: The End of Utopia: Politics and Culture in an Age of Apathy and what your thoughts are on it. I found it hilarious in places, especially in the instances where he illustrated the practical outcomes of some of the excesses of "post-al" thought. In this regard, the spirit of the book reminded me of E.P. Thompson's scathing polemic against Althusser in the Poverty of Theory. But most importantly, I think Jacoby's underlying message is a valid one--that it just may be time to rethink those ideas bequeathed to us by the enlightenment (but of course radicalized in the enlightenment's rebellious child--Marx) as we approach the dawning of a new millennium and rescue them from the abyss created by so-called radical intellectuals who, in Thompson's words, "perform imaginary revolutionary psycho-dramas (in which each outbids the other in adopting ferocious verbal postures) while . . . reproducing continually the elitist division of theory and practice." Any thoughts on Jacoby?
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Valerie Scatamburlo-D'Annibale Dept. of Communication Studies University of Windsor