Situatedness, or, Why We Keep Saying Where We′re Coming From

"[Simpson] is refreshingly provocative and surprisingly so considering his professional identity as a literary critic . . . ."

- Martin Jay , London Review of Books

"[T]he book's point and power reside in the variety of historical cases that Simpson provides from law, philosophy, sociology, and literature, where struggles to affirm the priority of situation run into the problems that we currently elide or ignore. . . . [It] should make it harder to make claims about situatedness as though the (forgotten) problem of mediation had already been solved."
- Bill Brown , American Literature

"Brave. . . . Situatedness provides a well-balanced view of its subject particularly pertinent to the current U.S. academic, legal, and social scene." - John Vignaux Smyth , Comparative Literature

“An exciting work, phenomenally erudite, informative, shrewdly and scrupulously argued, and very attractively written in vivid, non-jargony prose spiked with wry wit. Situatedness makes a striking contribution to current debates in humanities and social science scholarship, and it will be a touchstone for theoretical commentary in a range of different fields for a good while to come.” - Christopher Herbert, Northwestern University

“The philosophical nature of the concept of the situation has too often been neglected or overlooked altogether. Simpson has shown remarkable astuteness in identifying ‘situatedness’ in our current discourse, in naming it and revealing its functions. This is a splendid and unique contribution to our awakening from the Zeitgeist and its unconscious presuppostions.” - Fredric Jameson, author of Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism