Aestheticizing Politics/Politicizing Aesthetics: St. Louis Symposium on Radicalism in U.S. Arts
The past seven years have seen a resurgence of the radical right. In this resurgence, art and literature have played a prominent role. Senior advisors to the Trump administration cited novels as specific influences on federal policy; Jordan Peterson has disguised right-wing manifestos as self-help volumes, hoodwinking young men to the tune of millions; the internet has seen an overwhelming explosion of white supremacist digital art. Walter Benjamin’s dictum that fascism seeks to “aestheticize politics” endures.