Purely immanent criticism, dominant since New Criticism, is an illusion.

Evidence

The ideal of a purely immanent criticism is clearly not unique to post-structuralism but dominates a host of critical methods from the older New Criticism on. We will argue in subsequent sections that an immanent criticism in this sense is a mirage. — Fredric Jameson, The Political Unconscious, 1429

Categorization

• XREF: This overturns a core assumption the reader likely carries from New Critical training; sets up the immanence-vs-totality stakes of the whole book. — connects to: Culture’s truth depends on immanent critique of its own untruth. — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 966; The critic who denies his own subjectivity falls back into the serious; Criticism must be judged by objective validity, not the critic’s identity. — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Nations, Classes, Literatures, 460 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Culture’s truth depends on immanent critique of its own untruth. #contradicts (0.85) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 966
• Immanent critique must combine internal analysis with an external social perspective #contradicts (0.85) — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 52
• Debunking old illusions becomes a new ideology that destroys their truth. #complicates (0.78) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 685
• The critic who denies his own subjectivity falls back into the serious #complicates (0.75)
• Criticism must be judged by objective validity, not the critic’s identity. #contradicts (0.72) — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 460
• Radicalism among critics is reduced to abstract prestige within an allotted pattern #complicates (0.72) — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia, 228
• New Criticism rose and fell in lockstep with McCarthyism #responds-to (0.70) — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 86
• Transcendent critique loses force as society grows more one-dimensional #contradicts (0.70) — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 50