American Evil: Steven Zultanski’s Bribery, liberal guilt and the quest for authenticity

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2023

Authors

Guimarães, João Paulo (Author) FLUP; Siltanen, Elina (Author) Other

Journal

Title: English Studies

Vol. 104 No. 2

Pages: 264-282

ISSN: 0013-838X

Publisher: Routledge e Taylor & Francis

Indexing

ISI Web of Science

Scopus

Other information

DOI: 10.1080/0013838X.2023.2170591

Abstract (EN): This article discusses American poet Steven Zultanski’s 2014 Bribery, a book of post-conceptual poetry which unfolds as a quest for authenticity, the aim being to address the sense of impasse and guilt that, according to the book’s speaker, are prevalent among the denizens of America, depicted throughout as the nexus of evil. For Bribery’s speaker, we argue, authenticity is a necessary part of his method which aims at beginning again and at circumventing neoliberalism’s individualising tendencies, which make his efforts to change the status quo feel futile. Similarly to earlier American writers like Franklin or Thoreau, self-development, for Bribery’s speaker, becomes a route towards precision and humility, a way to reimagine his community without elevating himself and resorting to easy moralism. Bribery is an experimental project that works methodically to generate something precise and surprising without relying on randomness and abstraction.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific