Mary Ellen von der Heyden Lecture

Writing Toward a Post-Capitalist World

The late cultural theorist Frederic Jameson, in discussing dystopian narrative, famously declared, “It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.” In this lecture, Alexandra Kleeman asks, what type of challenge does this observation pose to writers and artists who are faced with either repeating the same laments about capitalism or with finding an obscure, unmarked path through these critiques? Her talk explores the creation of her own tentatively utopian novel, based on the idea that telling stories about a post-capitalist world can give substance and breadth to anti-capitalist imaginaries.