The Fredric Jameson I Knew

The death of Fredric Jameson on September 22, 2024, was a shocking blow to those who knew him personally — students, colleagues, friends, comrades — and the many more who read his vast variegated body of work. Some have suggested that his death marks the end of an epoch: the confluence of the social forces — decolonialism, Marxism, popular culture — that combined with European philosophy to produce Jameson is not easily replicable. Others have noted, dialectically or ironically, that this is itself a profoundly anti-Jamesonian view, for it expresses a vision in which it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of Jameson.

But, of course, Jameson always insisted that the most “negative” or ideological elements of the present occasion contain within them some “positive” or utopian prospect. We need only have the energy, skill, and willingness to perceive it. This insistence on identifying the utopian potential of even truly dismal situations was his crowning achievement. In fact, it underwrote his eclectic, open-minded, and yet still profoundly critical approach to everything, including his marvelous generosity and kindness to all who knew him.

Among the more utopian effects already to be found in the aftermath of Jameson’s death, in fact, has been the heartfelt appreciations of the person — that is, Jameson the teacher, the mentor, the guest speaker, the email correspondent, the friend — that so many of his friends, former students, and even apparent strangers have shared online in the last few days. These remembrances testify to Jameson’s inveterate kindness and endless generosity, along with his deep commitments to the welfare of others throughout his career. At the height of his fame, Jameson managed to have or to make time for other people, and — despite his seemingly impossible mastery of all things literary, philosophical, and political — snobbery and elitism were alien to him. As a student, I…