Immediacy Or, The Style of Too Late Capitalism

by Anna Kornbluh · 2024

In a world where art and media are being stripped of any middleman, Anna Kornbluh’s *Immediacy: Or, The Style of Too‑Late Capitalism* diagnoses the cultural fallout of a relentless push for speed, transparency and “flow.” Drawing on streaming television, best‑selling novels, gallery trends and academic theory, Kornbluh shows how today’s capitalist imperative to accelerate circulation has turned aesthetics into a quest for instant immersion, eroding the space for mediation, collective deliberation and big‑idea thinking. The book argues that while this hyper‑real style may feel cutting‑edge, it leaves us impoverished when political and social crises demand deeper, more constructed forms of expression. By spotlighting alternative practices in photography, television, fiction and critical theory that embrace distance, impersonality and thoughtful distance, *Immediacy* offers a compelling roadmap for reclaiming the missing middle in contemporary culture.