The Sensitivity Era: How Cancel Culture, Status Games & Elite Overproduction Are Remaking Literature

In today’s publishing world, authors face armies of sensitivity readers, status rivalries, and online shaming campaigns. Robert Huddleston reviews Adam Szetela’s That Book Is Dangerous! and William Deresiewicz’s The Death of the Artist, exploring how cancel culture, class inequality, and the relentless hunger for recognition have reshaped creative life. From Nabokov’s Lolita to the rise of DEI bureaucracy, discover how the “Sensitivity Era” has changed what gets published, who gets cancelled, and why art has never been more precarious.

Written by Robert Huddelston for Quillette: https://quillette.com/2025/08/19/the-...

00:00 The Legacy of Lolita and Its Impact
01:07 The Sensitivity Era in Literature
03:08 The Role of Sensitivity Readers
05:37 Moral Entrepreneurship in the Arts
07:41 Class Inequality in Creative Fields
09:51 The Hyper-Competitive Nature of the Arts
12:03 The Social Ecology of Cancel Culture

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Quillette is an Australian-based online magazine that focuses on long-form analysis and cultural commentary. It is politically non-partisan, but relies on reason, science, and humanism as its guiding values.

Quillette was founded in 2015 by Australian writer Claire Lehmann. It is a platform for free thought and a space for open discussion and debate on a wide range of topics, including politics, culture, science, and technology.

Quillette has gained attention for publishing articles and essays that challenge modern orthodoxy on a variety of topics, including gender and sexuality, race and identity politics, and free speech and censorship.

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