On Dialectics and “Duelism”: a Reply to Jennifer Daryl Slack
On Dialectics and “Duelism”: a Reply to Jennifer Daryl Slack
Here's the story: I published an essay called "The Matrix and Critical Theory's Desertion of the Real" in Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies 3 (2006): 329-54. Jennifer Daryl Slack then challenged me to a "Duel to the Death" in the Forum of Communication and Critical Cultural Studies 4 (2007): 336-42 over what she saw as my many transgression against cultural studies, poststructuralist theory, and the norms of scholarly discourse, which, she said, I had taken to a new low. Barbara Biesecker, editor of the Forum, graciously offered me space to reply, but in fairness, could only allow the same number of words she had granted to Slack.
My dilemma was that I had been charged with inattention to detail and nuance in my first essay (at the same time as being accused of having a misleadingly large number of detailed footnotes). I did not want readers of the printed response to think I had not thought carefully about each of the issues Slack had raised. On the good advice of several people, I am putting the larger version complete with notes here for you to read as you will.
The document is here.
Cheers,
Dana