In the late '80s and '90s, literary theory wasn't just academic—it was cool. Lecturers, often young and stylish, commanded attention, blurring the lines between intellect and allure. It was a unique cultural moment where words, style, and seduction intertwined. #LiteraryTheory #90sCulture #AcademicStyle #Deconstruction #CulturalHistory
Emily's journey from a suburban Midwest background to living in Lower Manhattan and working at The New York Times. Did her French connections act as a passport to the city's bright lights? #MidwestRoots #NewYorkCity #UrbanLife #CareerJourney #Glamour
Scholars dismantling foundational concepts like God and state—yet often mirroring the patriarchal structures they critique. A complex irony in feminist theory. #FeministTheory #GenderStudies #Philosophy #Academia
A $1.7 million ancient cuneiform tablet, the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet, was seized by the government. Illegally looted from Iraq, its owners? The Hobby Lobby Corporation and the Green family. #ArtifactTheft #GilgameshTablet #HobbyLobby #AncientHistory #LootedArt
The Greens advocate for a singular fundamentalist Christian worldview, stating it's incompatible with others. They believe society's rules should align with the Bible for entry into heaven. #ChristianWorldview #Pluralism #ReligiousDebate #BibleBeliefs
Discover how arcane French philosophers became heroes in American humanities. Young scholars, skeptical of authority, found a political voice through deconstructing texts and revealing hidden oppressions. Their work promised to change discourse, and perhaps, the world. #FrenchPhilosophy #Academia #LiteraryTheory #EdwardSaid #Deconstruction
Did Michel Foucault predict AI and the Deep State? Exploring the post-structuralist ideas that might explain our current digital and political landscape. The disappearance of the author revisited. #Foucault #AI #DeepState #Philosophy #PostStructuralism
Are French philosophers to blame for America's moral decay, importing relativism and nihilism? Or are "dumned-down" ideas the real culprits behind "truthiness" and alternative facts? #FrenchPhilosophy #AmericanCulture #Nihilism #Relativism #Truthiness
Discover Lacan's concept of the mirror stage: how our identity forms through recognizing ourselves as 'other' in a reflection. A key insight into alienation and self-perception. #Lacan #MirrorStage #Psychoanalysis #IdentityFormation #Philosophy
Sophisticated AI chatbots are challenging traditional linguistics, dominated by Chomsky's view of language as a uniquely human, genetically endowed trait. Structuralist theories, however, see language as an impersonal system where meaning arises from word relationships, a view more compatible with AI output. Scholars like Leif Weatherby are revisiting structuralism to…
Episode 2979: Emily Eakin's Life in French Theory https://keenon.substack.com/p/the-seduction-of-the-american-mind?utm_source=youtube
Sophisticated AI chatbots are challenging traditional linguistics, dominated by Chomsky's view of language as a uniquely human, genetically endowed trait. Structuralist theories, however, see language as an impersonal system where meaning arises from word relationships, a view more compatible with AI output. Scholars like Leif Weatherby are revisiting structuralism to…
“Theory said, it doesn’t matter what you’ve read. It’s how you read.” — Emily Eakin on the seduction of the Frenchmen When I was a graduate student at Berkeley in the Eighties, there was a bewildering rage for Frenchmen. Foucault in history, Derrida in literature, Althusser in political philosophy, Lacan…
