Joseph Tabbi reviews the essay collection Simulacrum America.
First, IN.S.OMNIA operates from the premise that the domain of literature as such is no longer in synch with cultural experience in contemporary America. Rather than “look for ‘the next big thing’ in literature,” IN.S.OMNIA asks, “What if the next big thing already surrounds us, embedded in small gestures we perform every day? What if the next big thing is the realization that we have changed the way we use culture - remapping, rewiring, renetworking the same old pool of elements in new ways, adding to them furtive scribbles, seeking pleasures without naming them?