Table Of ContentPlots: Literary Form and Conspiracy
Culture
This edited collection contributes to the study of conspiracy culture by ana-
lysing the relationship of literary forms to the formation, reception, and
transformation of conspiracy theories.
Conspiracy theories are narratives, and their narrative form provides the
structure within which their ‘readers’ situate themselves when interpreting
the world and its history. At the same time, conspiracist interpretations of
the world may then be transmediated into works of literature and import
popular discourse into narrative structures. The suppression and disappear-
ance of books themselves may generate conspiracy theories and become
co- opted into political dissent. Additionally, literary criticism itself is shown
to adopt conspiracist modes of interpretation. By examining conspiracy plots
as literary plots, with narrative, rhetorical, and symbolic characteristics, this
volume is the first systematic study of how conspiracy culture in American
and European history is the consequence of its interactions with literature.
This book will be of great interest to researchers of conspiracy theories,
literature, and literary criticism.
Ben Carver is a writing instructor at the European University Institute in
Florence, Italy. He researches and writes about speculative literature. His
publications study the hopes and fears of 19th-Century alternate history,
invasion and conspiracy fiction, and lost- world narratives.
Dana Craciun teaches 20th- Century Literature and American Studies at the
West University of Timișoara, Romania. Her other research interests include
post- 9/ 11 crises of representation, critical theory, and, more recently, con-
spiracy theories.
Todor Hristov teaches Critical Theory and Cultural Studies at the University
of Sofia, Bulgaria. He is the author of books on conspiracy theories, literary
theory, governmentality, social movements, and cultural studies, as well as
articles on biopolitics, governmentality, critical political economy, and new
social movements.
Conspiracy Theories
Series Editors: Peter Knight, University of Manchester, and Michael Butter,
University of Tübingen
Conspiracy theories have a long history and exist in all modern societies.
However, their visibility and significance are increasing today. Conspiracy
theories can no longer be simply dismissed as the product of a pathological
mind- set located on the political margins.
This series provides a nuanced and scholarly approach to this most con-
tentious of subjects. It draws on a range of disciplinary perspectives including
political science, sociology, history, media and cultural studies, area studies
and behavioural sciences. Issues covered include the psychology of conspiracy
theories, changes in conspiratorial thinking over time, the role of the Internet,
regional and political variations and the social and political impact of con-
spiracy theories.
The series will include edited collections, single-a uthored monographs and
short- form books.
Conspiracy Theories and the Nordic Countries
Anastasiya Astapova, Eirikur Bergmann, Asbjørn Dyrendal, Annika Rabo,
Kasper Grotle Rasmussen, Hulda Thórisdóttir, Andreas Önnerfors
Europe: Continent of Conspiracies
Conspiracy Theories in and about Europe
Edited by Andreas Önnerfors and André Krouwel
Russia Today and Conspiracy Theories
People, Power and Politics on RT
Ilya Yablokov and Precious N Chatterje- Doody
Conspiracy Theories and Latin American History
Lurking in the Shadows
Luis Roniger and Leonardo Senkman
Plots: Literary Form and Conspiracy Culture
Edited by Ben Carver, Dana Craciun and Todor Hristov
Plots: Literary Form and
Conspiracy Culture
Edited by
Ben Carver, Dana Craciun
and Todor Hristov
First published 2022
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2022 selection and editorial matter, Ben Carver, Dana Craciun and Todor Hristov;
individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Ben Carver, Dana Craciun and Todor Hristov to be identified as the authors
of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing- in- Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Carver, Ben, 1972– editor. | Crăciun, Dana, editor. |
Hristov, Todor (Hristov Dechev) editor.
Title: Plots : literary form and conspiracy culture /
edited by Ben Carver, Dana Craciun and Todor Hristov.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York : Routledge, 2022. |
Series: Conspiracy theories |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021024281 (print) | LCCN 2021024282 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780367500696 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367500702 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781003048657 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Conspiracies in literature. |
Fiction–Stories, plots, etc. | Conspiracy theories.
Classification: LCC PN56.C56 P56 2022 (print) |
LCC PN56.C56 (ebook) | DDC 809.93355–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021024281
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021024282
ISBN: 978- 0- 367- 50069- 6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978- 0- 367- 50070- 2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978- 1- 003- 04865- 7 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/ 9781003048657
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Newgen Publishing UK
Contents
Notes on contributors vii
Opening considerations 1
1 Introduction 3
TODOR HRISTOV
2 ‘Turning points’: plots in conspiracy and literature 17
BEN CARVER
SECTION 1
Conspiracy theories about books and authors 35
3 Erich Auerbach’s conspiracy theory 37
JOHN W. ROBERTS
4 In pursuit of nationhood vis- à- vis Russia: the search
for lost manuscripts in post- Soviet countries 54
ANASTASIYA ASTAPOVA
5 Conspiracy reading: new literary perspectives on paranoia
in Thomas Pynchon 72
INGER H. DALSGAARD
SECTION 2
Plotting: narrative forms of conspiracy 89
6 ‘The cash nexus’: realism and conspiracy in Balzac and
Dickens 91
BEN CARVER
vi Contents
7 Conspiracy narratives in serialized comics: an exploration 110
ALEJANDRO ROMERO RECHE
8 Conspiracy narratives and American apocalypticism in
The Turner Diaries 130
STEPHEN JOYCE
SECTION 3
Fictional disclosures: conspiracy and the politics of truth 145
9 Suspicious fictions: the fictionalizing acts in a
conspiracist novel 147
TODOR HRISTOV
10 Half- truths: on an instrument of post- truth politics
(and conspiracy narratives) 164
NICOLA GESS
11 Men make their own history: conspiracy as
counter- narrative in the German political field 179
CAROLIN AMLINGER
Index 200
Notes on contributors
Carolin Amlinger is a Postdoctoral Assistant in the Department of Linguistics
and Literary Studies at the University of Basel, Switzerland. She is working
on a research project on half-t ruths. Her research focuses on ideology the-
ories, postmodernism and post- truth, and sociology of literature.
Anastasiya Astapova is a Research Fellow in the Department of Estonian
and Comparative Folklore at the University of Tartu, Estonia. She has
published more than 30 peer- reviewed works on student humour and
Belarusian political folklore and nationalism.
Ben Carver is a writing instructor at the European University Institute in
Florence, Italy. He researches and writes about speculative literature. His
publications study the hopes and fears of C19 alternate history, invasion
and conspiracy fiction, and lost- world narratives.
Dana Craciun teaches 20th- Century Literature and American Studies at the
West University of Timișoara, Romania. Her other research interests
include post- 9/ 11 crises of representation, critical theory, and, more
recently, conspiracy theories.
Inger H. Dalsgaard is an Associate Professor in American Studies at Aarhus
University, Denmark. She is the author of numerous essays, and (co-)
editor of two books, on Thomas Pynchon.
Nicola Gess is a Professor of German and Comparative Literature at Basel
University, Switzerland. She is also Director of the multi- disciplinary
research project ‘Half- Truths. Truth, Fiction and Conspiracy in the Post-
Factual Age’. She works, among other topics, on ‘post-f actual’ discourse
and conspiracy theories.
Todor Hristov teaches Critical Theory and Cultural Studies at the University
of Sofia, Bulgaria. He is the author of books on conspiracy theories, lit-
erary theory, governmentality, social movements, and cultural studies, as
well as articles on biopolitics, governmentality, critical political economy,
and new social movements.
newgenprepdf
viii Notes on contributors
Stephen Joyce is an Associate Professor in Literature, Media, and
Communications in the Department of English at Aarhus University,
Denmark. He is the author of one book and several articles on the wide-
spread appeal of apocalyptic narratives in contemporary culture.
John W. Roberts is an independent scholar based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
His research focuses on the relationship between aesthetics and specula-
tion in visual culture, and his work has appeared in the Journal of InVisible
Culture, the Hitchcock Annual, and In Media Res.
Alejandro Romero Reche teaches Contemporary Social Theory and Electoral
Sociology at the University of Granada, Spain. In addition to his schol-
arly work on the sociologies of humour and knowledge, as a comics writer
he has published an illustrated book on Spanish right- wing conspiracy
theories.
Opening considerations
