Benjamin Kunkel

After the financial crash and the great recession, the media rediscovered Karl Marx, socialist theory, and the very idea that capitalism can be questioned. But in spite of the publicity, the main paths of contemporary critical thought have gone unexplored outside of the academy. Benjamin Kunkel’s Utopia or Bust leads readers – whether politically committed or simply curious – through the most important critical theory today. Written with the wit and verve of Kunkel’s best-selling novel, Indecision, this introduction to contemporary Leftist thinkers engages with the revolutionary philosophy of Slavoj Žižek, the economic analyses of David Graeber and David Harvey, and the cultural diagnoses of Fredric Jameson. Discussing the ongoing crisis of capitalism in light of ideas of full employment, debt forgiveness, and “fictitious capital,” Utopia or Bust is a tour through the world of Marxist thought and an examination of the basis of Western society today.

A Guide to the Present Crisis

Utopia or Bust

Dwight is only twenty-eight, but he's having a midlife crisis. Of course, living a dissolute, dorm like existence in a tiny apartment and working in tech support at Pfizer - are not especially conducive to wisdom. His biggest problem: a chronic inability to make up his mind. Encouraged by one of his roommates, he swallows the first fateful pill.

Indecision

Lola Seaton

What ecological politics should the left propose? In Who Will Build the Ark?, leading radical thinkers debate left alternatives to runaway global heating, capitalist crisis and wider environmental breakdown, clarifying the stakes in today’s key disputes between Green New Deal supporters and proponents of “degrowth.” In a series of landmark texts first published by New Left Review, Herman Daly and Benjamin Kunkel discusses the possibility of an egalitarian, steady-state economy, while Robert Pollin warns against the worldwide slump “degrowth” could bring and calls instead for a single-issue campaign—2 per cent of global GDP dedicated to the switch to renewable energy—as the swiftest solution to the emissions crisis. Nancy Fraser envisages an eco-socialist exit from capitalism’s multifold crises, while Troy Vettese advocates eco-austerity and half-earth rewilding. Lola Seaton draws out the strategic implications of these contested perspectives, in a set of unavoidable “green questions.” In the realm of contemporary politics, Alyssa Battistoni writes on the dead-end of COP diplomacy, Cédric Durand asks whether energy shortages will derail the transition away from fossil fuels, and Thomas Meaney compares Green New Deal proposals to the pinched reality of Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. The world’s major powers accept the likelihood of dangerous climate change, yet seem incapable of averting it. Can radical green models generate the social leverage needed to do so? Or, as Mike Davis puts it: Who will build the Ark?

Debates on Climate Strategy from New Left Review

Who Will Build the Ark?

We have outgrown capitalism. What comes next? Capitalism's reliance on constant growth has brought our world to the brink of collapse. From the breakdown in complex supply chains during the COVID-19 pandemic and ecological devastation to hollowed-out democracies and a truncated idea of human potential, we now find ourselves in a world based on overstretched resources, unsustainable economies, and increasing inequality. It is clear, in other words, that we've outgrown growth. What other future is there? To stop growing, of course. Weaving together economic strategies for degrowth and the urgent insights of ecosocialist theory, acclaimed writer and critic Benjamin Kunkel argues that we can--and must--manage the finite resources of our world. This will take institutional restructuring and a new economic language that elevates humans and the environment over profits, as well as a robust socialist politics that can ensure the success of both. If we want to survive, Kunkel argues, we need to insist on the kind of growth that can end all growth. Written with the dynamic wit of his best-selling novel Indecision, Kunkel proves again that he is one of our generation's most perceptive and lucid political thinkers.

The Rise and Fall of Economic Growth

It's Stupid, the Economy!

Elif Batuman

Daniel Smith

Rachel Sherman

Keith Gessen

Alexander Kluge

Pankaj Mishra

Mark Greif

Peter Gizzi

Marco Roth

Peter Frankel

Happiness

n+1, Number 2

Roman

Unentschlossen

Dwight B. Wilmerding ha ventotto anni, una buona famiglia alle spalle (i genitori divorziati da poco, un'amata - anche troppo - sorella maggiore, Alice), e un lavoro precario e molto insoddisfacente: è laureato in filosofia ma risponde all'help desk di un colosso farmaceutico, dove risolve i problemi informatici di quadri e dirigenti. Vive a New York insieme a tre amici, ha una ragazza molto bella, si impasticca parecchio ed è indeciso a tutto. Uno dei suoi amici, studente di medicina, gli passa un farmaco sperimentale, l'Abulinix, che dovrebbe guarire dalla sindrome di indecisione cronica. E subito Dwight prende una decisione d'impulso: parte per l'Ecuador e raggiunge Natasha, la compagna di liceo più bella e ammirata.

In the grip of a midlife crisis at twenty-eight, Dwight B. Wilmerding is also afflicted with a chronic inability to make up his mind. Encouraged to try an experimental drug meant to banish indecision. Dwight jumps at the chance (not without some meditation on the hazards of jumping) and swallows the first fateful pill. And when all at once he is 'pfired' from his tech job at Pfizer and invinted to rendezvous in exotic Ecuador with the girl of his long-ago prep-school dreams, he finds himself on the brink of a new life. The trouble is that Dwight can't decide if the pills are working. Now, deep in the jungles of the Amazon, his would-be romantic escape becomes a hilarious journey into unbidden responsibility and unwelcome knowledge - and an unexpected raison d'ętre.

A Novel

Negation

N+1, Number One

A young man plagued by chronic indecision is "pfired" by Pfizer and journeys to Ecuador in pursuit of an old flame.

Dwight Wilmerding is pas achtentwintig jaar oud, maar zit al midden in een midlifecrisis. Op zich niet vreemd: hij woont met wat vage vrienden in een klein appartement en zijn baan als helpdeskmedewerker bij de farmaceutische gigant Pfizer is niet bepaald sfeerverhogend. Daarbovenop lijdt hij ook nog eens aan aboulie: chronische besluiteloosheid die zo ver gaat dat hij enkel een besluit kan nemen door erom te tossen. Aangemoedigd door een van zijn kamergenoten onderwerpt hij zich aan een farmaceutisch experiment dat hem van zijn besluiteloosheid moet genezen. Wanneer hij pfired wordt door Pfizer en uitgenodigd door een vriendinnetje van de middelbare school om naar Ecuador te komen, reist hij abrupt af naar Zuid-Amerika. Probleem is alleen dat Dwight maar niet kan besluiten of de pillen die hij slikt werken of niet. Diep in de jungle wordt zijn romantische ontsnapping een hilarische reis, op zoek naar verantwoordelijkheid, kennis en liefde.

Besluiteloos

Mit dem Roman »Unentschlossen« machte sich Benjamin Kunkel auch in Deutschland einen Namen. Parallel zu seinem erzählerischen Werk verfasst Kunkel Essays für Magazine wie »n+1« und »The Jacobin«. Dieser Band versammelt seine wichtigsten Aufsätze über Autoren wie Fredric Jameson, David Graeber und Slavoj Žižek. Daraus ergibt sich nicht nur ein Panorama linken Denkens: Indem Kunkel das Gelesene mit eigenen Erfahrungen verknüpft, reflektiert er zugleich darüber, was es heißt, in neoliberalen Zeiten erwachsen geworden zu sein. Seine Jugend, so Kunkel, habe er großenteils während des Endes der Geschichte verbracht – das nun selbst an sein Ende zu kommen scheint.

Benjamin Kunkel

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