Modernity in decline: Politics and the modern novel

The generation of this text spawns from a few premises: firstly, that we are living through a political crisis inclusive of all global concerns; secondly, that this condition finds its best expression in Nietzsche's understanding of nihilism. Symptoms of political nihilism announce themselves everywhere: they are most evident in the on-going difficulties for intelligent communication amongst one another. There appears to be no moral accord on anything: a need for a thousand judgments with no judges nor those who wish to be judged. This text is not meant as a programme to overcome political nihilism. It merely makes suggestions. It suggests a path for a possible re-vitalization of political discourse within the discourses generated by the contemporary novel. This is all one can really expect in an age of nihilism. But with this attitude I seem in good company.