Global Financial Capital and New Realisms
The recent economic crisis coincides with flourishing of new realism across different media in Europe and North America [Frazen's The Corrections in literature (2001), Audaird's The Prophet (2008) in film, Simon and Burns' The Wire (2002-2008) in television]. This realism distinguishes itself by an extensive preoccupation with poverty, migration, crime and urban violence while it stylistically appropriates violence as a commentary on the disposability of bodies under neo-liberal economy. The time seems ripe to explore what kind of realism is being produced in our historical moment. This seminar explores the prospects and limits of realism as a narrative mode that reflects on the contemporary capitalism, its trajectory, moments of crisis and recovery.