“All Manners of Monsters”: Transparency and the Alt-Right in Hari Kunzru’s "Red Pill"
Abstract
Red Pill (2020) is a novel by British writer Hari Kunzru. The novel explores two ongoing socio-political trends. First, it is concerned with the dominance of transparency in contemporary society, a situation which is presented as totalitarian. Then, Red Pill analyses the rise of the alt-right in Western countries. Kunzru also highlights the shortcomings of common liberal-progressive responses to modern-day far-right discourse. This article examines the novel from the point of view of Critical Transparency Studies, drawing on the work of, among other, Georg Simmel and Byung-Chul Han.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Contemporary Literature and Criticism
Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies
Utopian
Dystopian
and Speculative Fiction
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Lublin Studies in Modern Languages and Literature
- Volume
- 50
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 20–30
- Publication date
- 4 March 2026
- Language
- EN