All the world's a brothel: metaphysics of the text and cultural economy in the information age

Abstract

A satirical genuflection to gurudom is offered. Academic practice and the fads which dominate the post-LitCrit paradigm in the humanities are questioned. Problems in methodology, theoreticism and epistemology are revealed. The analogue era and ideas of McLuhan, who foresaw the aesthetics of the (not yet discovered) digital age are revisited, as is the relevance of cultural studies in the digital age, when the idea of culture is under question. Early theorists like Mill, Williams and Taylor are discussed within the new context.

Keywords:

• cultural studies
• digital media
• literature
• McLuhan
• Peirce
• semiotics
• virtual reality