INTRODUCTION: SYMPOSIUM ON CRITICAL THEORY: THE BASICS By Martin Shuster *** The Montréal Review, September 2026
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I have to confess that I feel a bit peculiar including a symposium on my own book in an issue that I am also guest editing, but I think Tsoncho Tsonchev’s suggestion to include it here ultimately makes sense. This symposium arose out of an “author meets critics” panel at the 63 annual Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy meeting in 2025. The discussion that followed cuts to the heart of not just the book but also to many contemporary issues in critical theory and so serves as a workable and useful addition to this issue. The people involved and the comments have all been expanded far beyond the discussion there, exactly for this special issue. I am grateful to everyone and to The Montréal Review. Martin Shuster Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
CONTENTS
Onkel Rudi (Uncle Rudi), Gerhard Richter, 1965.
Grünes Feld (Green Field), Gerhard Richter, 1969.
A still from My Undesirable Friends: Part II — Exile (2026)
THE SKY IS BLUE: A CONVERSATION WITH JULIA LOKTEV
Stadtbild Madrid (Cityscape Madrid), Gerhard Richter, 1968.
INTRODUCTION: SYMPOSIUM ON CRITICAL THEORY
Relativity, M.C. Escher, 1953.
Cage 6, Gerhard Richter, 2006.
5. Jan. 98, Gerhard Richter.
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Art Note: Stadtbild Madrid (Cityscape Madrid), Gerhard Richter, 1968. An aerial view of a city, legible as a city from across the room and dissolving into grey strokes the closer you get — Richter himself later said his Stadtbilder reminded him of photographs of bombed-out Dresden. Critical theory works the same way: hold it at a distance and you see a structure; get close enough to test any one claim and the structure keeps threatening to come apart in your hands. Oil on canvas, 276.9 × 292.1 cm (Catalogue Raisonné 171). Collection San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Doris and Donald Fisher Collection. © Gerhard Richter, courtesy of the artist and Gerhard Richter Archive.
