Autotheory’s form preempts criticism through vulnerable persona rather than argument

Evidence

Often shaped as aphorisms, fragments, elliptical nonnarratives, and momentary illuminations, these texts rebuff systematic elucidation. Fullnesses of charismatic persona, corporeal receptivity, and affective flooding devise an evanescent plenum that preempts criticism. The trademark rhetorical posture of unassailability for the autotheorist, as Andrea Long Chu herself admits, “relies on her own vulnerability to insulate herself from close scrutiny.” Immediacy in theory is this argumentless intensity immured from dissent and devoid of higher-order integration. It goes down smooth. — Anna Kornbluh, Immediacy, or The Style of Too Late…, 260

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to the reader fighting with the Antitheory chapter — this articulates Kornbluh’s case against autotheory’s immunity structure.
• SEED: Good material for an essay critiquing the ‘unassailability via vulnerability’ rhetorical posture that has spread well beyond autotheory into internet discourse.