Libertarian Literary and Media Criticism

“Paul Cantor’s genial and witty presence disguised his profoundly original and daring contribution to the understanding and appreciation of literature. That contribution, which recognized the enormous creativity of free markets and the values of civil life that they engender, might still revive the literary humanities. The essays in this brilliant collection are an earnest of such a revival.”

— Frederick Turner , Emeritus, University of Texas at Dallas, Author of Shakespeare’s Twenty-First Century Economics .

“This volume represents a significant and much needed intervention into literary studies, cultural studies, and media studies. One might refer to the paradigm that it represents as a new economic criticism.”

— Michael Rectenwald , Ph.D., Mises Institute; former NYU Professor and former Hillsdale College Distinguished Fellow.

“This collection of essays is a testament to Paul Cantor’s groundbreaking approach in connecting economic theory with cultural imagination, revealing how market dynamics can deepen our understanding of literature and media in ways that ignite intellectual curiosity.”

— Allen Mendenhall , Troy University, Author of Literature and Liberty: Essays in Libertarian Literary Criticism .

This volume applies libertarian philosophy and free-market economic theory to both literature and media, from early modern drama to novels to comic books, cinema, and television series. Several chapters contrast capitalism with statism, focusing on the market economy versus central planning, freedom versus government coercion. Not surprisingly, the economic theories of Adam Smith, Ludwig von Mises, and F.A. Hayek run through several essays. Contributors also engage with other theorists and writers as diverse as Thomas Hobbes, Charles Darwin, Thomas Huxley, Friedrich Nietzsche, Leo Strauss, and Judith Butler.

Jo Ann Cavallo is Professor of Italian at Columbia University, USA. She has published widely on Italian literature and culture, especially Renaissance chivalric epic and popular performance traditions. For the past decade, she has also brought a libertarian perspective to Italian studies through her publications on Marco Polo, Machiavelli, Renaissance fiction, chivalric epic, and Sicilian puppet theater.