On Compromise
Art, Politics, and the Fate of an American Ideal
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- £7.49
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- £7.49
Publisher Description
A strident argument about the dangers of compromise in art, politics, and everyday life
On Compromise is an argument against contemporary liberal society’s tendency to view compromise as an unalloyed good—politically, ethically, and artistically. In a series of clear, convincing essays, Rachel Greenwald Smith discusses the dangers of thinking about compromise as an end rather than as a means. To illustrate her points, she recounts her stint in a band as a bass player, fighting with her bandmates about “what the song wants,” and then moves outward to Bikini Kill and the Riot Grrrl movement, the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Poetry magazine, the resurgence of fascism, and other wide-ranging topics.
Smith’s arguments are complex and yet have a simplicity to them, as she writes in a concise, cogent style that is eminently readable. By weaving examples drawn from literature, music, and other art forms with political theory and first-person anecdotes, she shows the problems of compromise in action. And even as Smith demonstrates the many ways that late capitalism demands individual compromise, she also holds out hope for the possibility of lasting change through collective action. Closing with a piercing discussion of the uncompromising nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and how global protests against racism and police brutality after the murder of George Floyd point to a new future, On Compromise is a necessary and vital book for our time.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Literary critic Smith (Affect and American Literature in the Age of Neoliberalism) explores the intersection of compromise, politics, and aesthetic movements in this insightful collection. Most of the essays are grounded in personal experience—in "Call and Response: An Introduction," Smith writes of attending the 2017 Women's March in Washington, D.C., on the day after Donald Trump's inauguration and feeling as though she had "compromised on distrust of mainstream white feminism" while still appreciating the solidarity she felt. This evolves into a critique of experimental "hybrid" works of contemporary literature, which she views as "compromise aesthetics" that maintains the status quo. In "Welcome to the Jungle," she considers MFA programs as an exercise in compromise between the individualism inherent in art and the uniformity of an institution, and recaps recent criticism of Poetry magazine for its "tokenism," wondering what a truly "open" magazine would look like (free from liberalism, which rewards competition and individualism). While some essays can meander, Greenwald Smith takes a commendably expansive view of the idea and practice of compromise, creating a nuanced look at a thorny subject. The result is a work of criticism as thoughtful as it is relevant.
