"You Have Fiscal Ebola": The Privatization of Risk in Jess Walter's The Financial Lives of the Poets

Abstract:Jess Walter's The Financial Lives of the Poets, a comic novel that traces how the global financial crisis contributes to the dissolution of an American family, illustrates an ideological transition from neoliberalism to economic nationalism. The novel explores how both neoliberalism and economic nationalism privatize financial risks for individuals and families by promoting homeownership, reallocating the blame for the financial crisis toward individual consumers, and asserting that financial security and restoration lie in further privatization through disentanglement from the global economy. Ultimately, the novel reveals that both philosophies share emphasis on the responsibility of the private economic actor.