(Re)reading from first to last, as I have recently, Michel Houellebecq’s entire body of translated work leaves me in little doubt that he is the only novelist in the west truly capturing the pernicious effects on individuals living through this latest manifestation of capitalism, a neoliberalism whose influence reaches deep into notions of individualism and identity.
Carole Sweeney’s reading list below is as good as any I’ve seen on the history of capitalism in the twentieth century, and most particularly on the rise of neoliberalism. I’ve read some of these and plan to read the others, and welcome any other reading suggestions along similar lines.
Time's Flow Stemmed 
Check out the reading list for Robin James’s course on neoliberalism: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ba0B98-MlQSIJWgCAlo1OWbUnPN7bbrB1PSRk1m43zc/edit?pli=1
Thank you for that link, and additional reading. I enjoyed the tone and style of Robin James’ course notes. It sounds like a fascinating summer school.
Check out the reading list for Robin James’s course on Neolib at UNC Charlotte this summer:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ba0B98-MlQSIJWgCAlo1OWbUnPN7bbrB1PSRk1m43zc/edit?pli=1
Mirowski’s ‘Never Let a Serious Crisis Go To Waste’ is also a useful read.
Check out the reading list for Robin James’s summer course at UNC Charlotte:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ba0B98-MlQSIJWgCAlo1OWbUnPN7bbrB1PSRk1m43zc/edit?pli=1
Along with the texts suggested by Robin James’s syllabus, Wendy Brown’s current work on neoliberalism (which takes Foucault’s “Birth of Biopolitics” lecture series as its point of departure) is incisive and lucid, although I’m not sure when it’ll be available in book form. A draft of a lecture she’s been giving is available here:
Click to access Homo_Oeconomicus_Homo_Politicus_and_Democracy.pdf
That’s perfect, Anna, thank you for that link. Foucault’s accounts in this area are immensely persuasive. Hardt and Negri also used them as a rewarding point of departure. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for Wendy Brown’s book as I like what I’ve read in the lecture notes.
Anna M., not sure if you are still tracking this post (if at all) but Wendy Brown’s book is now due in March 2015: Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s Stealth Revolution. Thanks for the pointer.
One of my favorite subjects. I especially like Harvey. Enjoyed his more recent (2011) ‘The Enigma of Capital: and the Crises of Capitalism.’ Would also recommend Colin Crouch (2011) ‘The Strange Non-death of Neo-liberalism.’ (Now I definitely have to read Houellebec’ 🙂 )
Thanks, Jan. I’m with you on Harvey, though I’ve yet to read his recent work (must remedy), and I’ll add the Colin Crouch book to my reading list. Houellebecq’s Whatever is the finest literary depiction of a narrator living against the grain of neoliberalism that I’ve read, a Nausea of our times.
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