Andrea Long Chu on ‘Authority’ with Arielle Angel

In an era marked by the constant stream of content and criticism from self-proclaimed experts, one might ask: who, exactly, are the authorities we can trust?

In Authority, a bold, provocative collection of essays, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Andrea Long Chu offers a revised intellectual history of this timeless struggle, tracing the political contours of criticism from its origins in the Enlightenment to our present age of social media. Rather than succumbing to an endless cycle of inflated emergencies, Authority makes a compelling case for how to approach criticism in light of the genuine crises — from authoritarianism to genocide—that confront us today.

With devastating wit and clarity, Chu has defied the imperative to separate politics from art. Authority brings together her critical work across a wide range of media—novels, television, theater, and video games.

The Center for Fiction is thrilled to welcome Chu in conversation with Arielle Angel, writer and editor of Jewish Currents, to discuss one of the most urgent questions of our time: What is authority when everyone has an opinion on everything?