As a response to a quote by Theodore Martin in his text “The Dialectic of Change”, this essay analyzes the ways in which Ben Lerner´s novel "10:04" is embedded in capitalism as well as the ways in which it is able to overcome the market. The complex interrelation between neoliberalism and the novel is discussed and analyzed in detail.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. The Intersection of Art and Neoliberalism in 10:04
3. Totaled Art and Aesthetic Resistance
4. Temporal and Spatial Complexity as Resistance
5. Homo Oeconomicus and Human Connection
6. Conclusion
Objectives & Research Themes
This essay explores the complex relationship between Ben Lerner’s novel 10:04 and the pervasive influence of neoliberalism, examining whether the text is a product entirely subsumed by market logic or a work capable of aesthetic resistance.
- The entanglement of literature and the neoliberal marketplace.
- The concept of "totaled art" as a form of self-sabotage and resistance.
- The role of temporal and spatial narrative structures in challenging neoliberal immediacy.
- The portrayal of the "homo oeconomicus" versus genuine human connection in the novel.
- The inherent contradictions in producing art within a capitalist system.
Excerpt from the Book
Totaled Art and Aesthetic Resistance
10:04 provides insight into the intricate enmeshment of art and economy, simultaneously pointing out the ways in which the novel is also a part of this entanglement. Thus, analyzing the status of totaled art in the novel (cf. Lerner 130f.), may also reveal something about the status of the text itself. In 10:04, Alena and Peter open an “Institute for Totaled Art” (131), an institute filled with artwork that has been declared damaged, and thus as having zero financial value (cf. 133). The supposed damage is not perceptible to the narrator, but the official labeling has transformed the art commodities back into simple objects of art. At this point, the narrator states that “it [is] incredibly rare […] to encounter an object liberated from [market] logic” (133). It is in this scene that Jennifer Ashton sees a parallel between the totaled art in the novel and the novel itself. “The ingenious form of aesthetic resistance that the novel imagines for itself is based on Alena’s ingenious form of risk management” (15), she states and argues further that 10:04 has overcome market pressures by becoming a totaled art work itself. Essentially, her argument is that 10:04 uses self-sabotage in order to forestall the damage that would be done to it by the market anyway. For me, this argument is problematic because it infers that, by attempting to avoid the market, the writing is actually strongly influenced by it, since Ashton assumes Lerner actively anticipated the damage the market could do to the book and then did the damage himself.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: This chapter introduces the core premise of the novel as a work situated between total subsumption by market forces and autonomous aesthetic resistance.
2. The Intersection of Art and Neoliberalism in 10:04: This section analyzes how the novel reflects the neoliberal configuration of existence and the historical shift in literary production towards market responses.
3. Totaled Art and Aesthetic Resistance: This chapter examines the "Institute for Totaled Art" and evaluates whether the novel’s self-sabotage represents a viable form of resisting market pressure.
4. Temporal and Spatial Complexity as Resistance: This part focuses on how Lerner’s play with time and space acts as a counter-logic to the immediacy demanded by neoliberalism.
5. Homo Oeconomicus and Human Connection: This chapter contrasts the dehumanizing pressures of the "homo oeconomicus" model with the narrator’s attempts at genuine, non-transactional human relationships.
6. Conclusion: The final chapter synthesizes the contradictions of the book, concluding that while 10:04 cannot exist separate from the market, it successfully engages with it in a critical and fruitful manner.
Keywords
10:04, Ben Lerner, Neoliberalism, Market logic, Totaled art, Aesthetic resistance, Homo oeconomicus, Literature, Capitalism, Narrative structure, Temporal complexity, Self-sabotage, Art commodity, Contemporary fiction, Economic pressures.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the fundamental focus of this academic work?
The work explores how Ben Lerner's novel 10:04 navigates the tensions between neoliberal economic forces and the autonomy of literature.
What are the primary themes discussed in the analysis?
The analysis centers on the entanglement of the art market with literary production, the concept of damaged or "totaled" art, the impact of neoliberalism on time and space, and the struggle to maintain human connection.
What is the central research question?
The essay asks to what extent 10:04 is either completely compromised by capitalistic demands or capable of maintaining a critical, autonomous stance against the omnipresent market.
Which methodology is employed in the study?
The author employs a literary analysis approach, utilizing critical theory—specifically the works of Wendy Brown, Mathias Nilges, and Jennifer Ashton—to interpret the novel's engagement with neoliberal concepts.
What does the main body of the text cover?
The main body examines specific narrative devices, such as the "Institute for Totaled Art" and the story "The Golden Vanity," to illustrate the narrator's struggle with economic pressures and his search for non-commodified human relationships.
Which keywords best describe this research?
Key terms include 10:04, Neoliberalism, Aesthetic resistance, Homo oeconomicus, and Literary autonomy.
How does the novel deal with the concept of "totaled art"?
The novel presents "totaled art" as a paradoxical strategy where works are declared valueless to escape market logic, though the analysis argues that this remains a compromised form of resistance.
Does the author conclude that the novel is free from neoliberal influence?
No, the author concludes that the novel is neither entirely immune to nor completely subsumed by neoliberalism, but rather exists in a state of complex, critical engagement with these economic structures.
What role do temporal and spatial categories play in the novel's resistance?
The author argues that by refusing the "immediacy" of neoliberal time and by playing with narrative spatiality, the novel offers a form of resistance against the reductive, time-abolishing logic of global capital.
- Arbeit zitieren
- Silvia Schilling (Autor:in), 2018, Neoliberalism and the Novel. The Relationship of Capitalism and Ben Lerner's "10:04", München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/520754
