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<div class="at-above-post-homepage addthis_tool" data-url="https://blog.lareviewofbooks.org/essays/pre-modern-post-truth/"></div><p>By <a href="https://lareviewofbooks.org/contributor/rhodri-lewis/">Rhodri Lewis</a></p>
<p>At the end of 2016, <a href="https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/word-of-the-year/word-of-the-year-2016">the <em>Oxford English Dictionary</em> declared “post-truth” its Word of the Year</a>, and offered a fine working definition of what the term can be said to mean: “Relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping political debate or public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” “The concept of post-truth has been in existence for the past decade,” the <em>OED </em>declared on its blog, but they had lately “seen a spike in frequency … in the context of the EU referendum in the United Kingdom and the presidential election in the United States.” Few would attempt to deny that the political culture embraced and advanced by the Trump administration and the champions of Brexit fits the <em>OED</em>’s description perfectly. <a href="https://blog.lareviewofbooks.org/essays/pre-modern-post-truth/#more-4726" class="more-link">Read more</a></p>
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Pre-Modern Post-Truth

Four Shakespearean Period Pieces

<strong>Rhodri Lewis teaches English and Comparative Literature at Princeton, and has interests in the literature and history of early modern England and Europe. His most recent book, <em>Hamlet and the Vision of Darkness</em>, was published in 2017.</strong>

Rhodri Lewis

Once Upon a Time: On Margreta de Grazia’s “Four Shakespearean Period Pieces”

"Writing only leads to more writing." — Colette

Literary Criticism

Tragedy

Man of Sorrows: On Terry Eagleton’s “Tragedy”

How the Classics Made Shakespeare

The Vanilla of Magical Thinking

Tyrant

Fashion It Thus: Stephen Greenblatt’s “Tyrant”

"You can't ignore politics, no matter how much you'd like to." — Molly Ivins

Politics

Rhodri Lewis teaches English and Comparative Literature at Princeton, and has interests in the literature and history of early modern England and Europe. His most recent book, <em>Hamlet and the Vision of Darkness</em>, was published in 2017.