Writing Precarity: Neoliberalism and the Globalized Atlantic

Abstract

n a 2019 issue of South Atlantic Quarterly titled “Neoliberalism’s Authoritarian (Re)turns,” editors Jamie Peck and Nik Theodore question the usefulness of the term neoliberalism to describe our contemporary moment marked by “the tawdry array of authoritarian (re)turns that have been witnessed in various parts of the world in the decade since the global financial crisis of 2008―from Trump to Turkey, from the Brexit debacle to the Brazilian coup, and much else besides.”1 This is but one example of contemporary skepticism toward the idea of neoliberalism, especially what it means, how it is used as an idea and a practice in different ways across global contexts, and what processes it cannot adequately account for. However, even as scholars acknowledge that the meaning of neoliberalism is not always readily apparent, they remain invested in understanding its influence on the cultural sphere. Literary scholarship in this area has sought to demonstrate how neoliberalism influences not only literary form and representation, but also shifts in method and genre such as the resurgence of realism and the memoir’s rise to prominence.2 Recent work has also