New Left Review 23, September-October 2003
FRANCIS MULHERN
WHAT IS CULTURAL CRITICISM?
Stefan Collini now gives free expression to the concern that was already evident in his first response to Metaculture. [1] ‘Defending Cultural Criticism’, nlr 18, Nov–Dec 2002, pp. 73–97. See also Mulhern, Culture/Metaculture, London 2000; Collini, ‘Culture Talk’, nlr 7, Jan–Feb 2001; Mulhern, ‘Beyond Metaculture’, nlr 16, July–Aug 2002. If the historical category of Kulturkritik and my unorthodox use of it have been prominent in the exchange to date, this is in large part because it is overdetermined by issues whose charge is contemporary and prospective. ‘Defending cultural criticism’ is Collini’s title, not ‘leave it to the historians’. Of course, criticism and history cannot be simply partitioned in this case. Collini insists with more than conventional force on the continuity between them, and with reason. Nevertheless, I will say nothing more about historic Kulturkritik, except in passing. Neither of us is ready to concede, and others will weigh the arguments for themselves.
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