i kinda feel like at this point, we’ve done enough Contemporary Literature Discourse that we could do the situation so described by zizek here with new novels and the essays criticizing them: one machine writes three to four novels about trying to navigate feeling complicit with an apocalyptic capitalism, all of which produce a reading experience uncannily similar to scrolling on your phone; the other machine groups said novels under a shared name that is somewhat dismissive of their theme, and then at the end, gestures at how novels could be good, again. meanwhile, novelist and critic have retired to the breakfast nook, where we can sip our coffees and discuss the changing weather and sexual mores