Continuing my progressive descent into vulgar materialism (I use the words "progressive" and "vulgar" in positive senses!), I’d like to develop the line of thinking of my previous post, "Reading under Neoliberalism." I will use the questions Joel Burges asks in a comment to guide my reflections here.

In his reply to my recent blog post, Joel Burges raises an important question: does the new imaginative thinking about history I find in recent literature and cinema also mean a "return to liberalism"?

Raymond Chandler is making me depressed this afternoon.  Not because Chandler has a knack for hitting a nerve (“On the way out I had another look at the face in the mirror.  I looked as if I had made up my mind to drive off a cliff”).  I’m depressed because I am currently rereading The Little Sister in The Library of America edition.