Authority

In Authority, Andrea Long Chu asserts that criticism has always been political and that true intellectual authority cannot be neutral. This bold essay collection, spanning works first published between 2018 and 2023 (with two new additions), takes readers on a cerebral tour through novels, television, musicals, gender, and the very mechanics of critique itself.

Chu’s writing is electrifying: sentences that sting and shimmer in equal measure, wielding wit and provocation with surgical precision. Her most compelling pieces, like “On Liking Women” and sharp takedowns of Hanya Yanagihara and Ottessa Moshfegh, combine personal insight with fearless argumentation.  And while her essays on musicals, TV shows, and video games reveal her aesthetic passion, the twin meta-essays on criticism and political authority anchor the collection in urgent intellectual inquiry.

At its heart, Authority challenges readers to confront the friction between style and substance, conviction and nuance. Chu contends that neutral critique is an illusion, and that real critics should wear their political and aesthetic preferences on their sleeves. Whether you admire her or bristle at her barbs, her fearless intelligence makes Authority a vital statement on the power and peril of cultural criticism.