If you listened to the last episode of Citations Needed, you heard that the CIA funneled money into into cultural institutions like the Iowa Writers Workshop and the Paris Review to win the cultural war against communism. Much of this led to the emphasis on first-person writing and a focus on individual experience.
I don't know about you comrades, but I got Ds throughout secondary (high school) in English. I fucking hated 20th century lit. Are there any pretentious and overly individualistic writers that you blame on the CIA?
In regards to the CCF and the Iowa Writers Workshop, the CIA didn't support individuals but rather certain styles.
Anyhow, this post isn't meant to be educational, but rather an entertaining gripe at awful writers that were poured down our throats as children.