Professor of English Todd McGowan presents the 2017 CAS Dean's Lecture "Citizen Trump."

Donald Trump is self-evidently a figure of excess. His success as a presidential candidate stemmed not just from the excessive enjoyment that he offered his supporters but also from the way that he characterized them as lacking. Taking stock of the relationship between lack and excess reveals not only why Trump succeeded but also why the rapacious capitalism that he represents continues to triumph. Todd McGowan will explain the model for understanding this relationship, which comes from Orson Welles's classic film "Citizen Kane." 

The lecture will be held February 6 from 4-5:30 p.m. in Waterman Bldg 338 (Memorial Lounge).

Todd McGowan teaches film and theory in the Film and Television Studies Program and the English Department. He is the author of "Capitalism and Desire: The Psychic Cost of Free Markets," "Enjoying What We Don't Have: The Political Project of Psychoanalysis," "The Fictional Christopher Nolan," and other publications. His forthcoming works include a book on comedy entitled "Only a Joke Can Save Us" and a book on Hegel called "The Contradictory Revolution."

The event is free.