American Literary Realism, Critical Theory, and Intellectual Prestige, 1880–1995

American Literary Realism, Critical Theory, and Intellectual Prestige, 1880–1995

Author: Phillip Barrish

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2001-02-19

Total Pages: 227

ISBN-13: 1139431951

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Focusing on key works of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American literary realism, Phillip Barrish traces the emergence of new ways of gaining intellectual prestige - that is, new ways of gaining cultural recognition as unusually intelligent, sensitive or even wise. Through extended readings of works by Henry James, William Dean Howells, Abraham Cahan and Edith Wharton, Barrish emphasises the differences between literary realist modes of intellectual and cultural authority and those associated with the rise of the social sciences. In doing so, he greatly refines our understanding of the complex relationship between realist writing and masculinity. Barrish further argues that understanding the dynamics of intellectual status in realist literature provides new analytic purchase on intellectual prestige in recent critical theory. Here he focuses on such figures as Lionel Trilling, Paul de Man, John Guillory and Judith Butler.


Book Synopsis American Literary Realism, Critical Theory, and Intellectual Prestige, 1880–1995 by : Phillip Barrish

Download or read book American Literary Realism, Critical Theory, and Intellectual Prestige, 1880–1995 written by Phillip Barrish and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2001-02-19 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on key works of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American literary realism, Phillip Barrish traces the emergence of new ways of gaining intellectual prestige - that is, new ways of gaining cultural recognition as unusually intelligent, sensitive or even wise. Through extended readings of works by Henry James, William Dean Howells, Abraham Cahan and Edith Wharton, Barrish emphasises the differences between literary realist modes of intellectual and cultural authority and those associated with the rise of the social sciences. In doing so, he greatly refines our understanding of the complex relationship between realist writing and masculinity. Barrish further argues that understanding the dynamics of intellectual status in realist literature provides new analytic purchase on intellectual prestige in recent critical theory. Here he focuses on such figures as Lionel Trilling, Paul de Man, John Guillory and Judith Butler.

American Literary Realism, Critical Theory, and Intellectual Prestige, 1880-1995

American Literary Realism, Critical Theory, and Intellectual Prestige, 1880-1995

Author: Phillip Barrish

Publisher:

Published: 2001-02-19

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 9780521782210

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Phillip Barrish traces the emergence of new ways of gaining intellectual prestige in the key works of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American literary realism.


Book Synopsis American Literary Realism, Critical Theory, and Intellectual Prestige, 1880-1995 by : Phillip Barrish

Download or read book American Literary Realism, Critical Theory, and Intellectual Prestige, 1880-1995 written by Phillip Barrish and published by . This book was released on 2001-02-19 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Phillip Barrish traces the emergence of new ways of gaining intellectual prestige in the key works of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American literary realism.

The Cambridge Introduction to American Literary Realism

The Cambridge Introduction to American Literary Realism

Author: Phillip J. Barrish

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2011-10-06

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 1139502654

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Between the Civil War and the First World War, realism was the most prominent form of American fiction. Realist writers of the period include some of America's greatest, such as Henry James, Edith Wharton and Mark Twain, but also many lesser-known writers whose work still speaks to us today, for instance Charles Chesnutt, Zitkala-Ša and Sarah Orne Jewett. Emphasizing realism's historical context, this introduction traces the genre's relationship with powerful, often violent, social conflicts involving race, gender, class and national origin. It also examines how the realist style was created; the necessarily ambiguous relationship between realism produced on the page and reality outside the book; and the different, often contradictory, forms 'realism' took in literary works by different authors. The most accessible yet sophisticated account of American literary realism currently available, this volume will be of great value to students, teachers and readers of the American novel.


Book Synopsis The Cambridge Introduction to American Literary Realism by : Phillip J. Barrish

Download or read book The Cambridge Introduction to American Literary Realism written by Phillip J. Barrish and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2011-10-06 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Between the Civil War and the First World War, realism was the most prominent form of American fiction. Realist writers of the period include some of America's greatest, such as Henry James, Edith Wharton and Mark Twain, but also many lesser-known writers whose work still speaks to us today, for instance Charles Chesnutt, Zitkala-Ša and Sarah Orne Jewett. Emphasizing realism's historical context, this introduction traces the genre's relationship with powerful, often violent, social conflicts involving race, gender, class and national origin. It also examines how the realist style was created; the necessarily ambiguous relationship between realism produced on the page and reality outside the book; and the different, often contradictory, forms 'realism' took in literary works by different authors. The most accessible yet sophisticated account of American literary realism currently available, this volume will be of great value to students, teachers and readers of the American novel.

The Oxford Handbook of American Literary Realism

The Oxford Handbook of American Literary Realism

Author: Keith Newlin

Publisher: Oxford Handbooks

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 733

ISBN-13: 0190642890

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"The Oxford Handbook of American Literary Realism offers 35 original essays of fresh interpretations of the artistic and political challenges of representing life accurately. Organized by topic and theme, essays draw upon recent scholarship in literary and cultural studies to offer an authoritative and in-depth reassessment of major and minor figures and the contexts that shaped their work. One set of essays explores realism's genesis and its connection to previous and subsequent movements. Others examine the inclusiveness of representation, the circulation of texts, and the aesthetic representation of science, time, space, and the subjects of medicine, the New Woman, and the middle class. Still others trace the connection to other arts--poetry, drama, illustration, photography, painting, and film--and to pedagogic issues in the teaching of realism"--


Book Synopsis The Oxford Handbook of American Literary Realism by : Keith Newlin

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of American Literary Realism written by Keith Newlin and published by Oxford Handbooks. This book was released on 2019 with total page 733 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Oxford Handbook of American Literary Realism offers 35 original essays of fresh interpretations of the artistic and political challenges of representing life accurately. Organized by topic and theme, essays draw upon recent scholarship in literary and cultural studies to offer an authoritative and in-depth reassessment of major and minor figures and the contexts that shaped their work. One set of essays explores realism's genesis and its connection to previous and subsequent movements. Others examine the inclusiveness of representation, the circulation of texts, and the aesthetic representation of science, time, space, and the subjects of medicine, the New Woman, and the middle class. Still others trace the connection to other arts--poetry, drama, illustration, photography, painting, and film--and to pedagogic issues in the teaching of realism"--

Questionable Charity

Questionable Charity

Author: William M. Morgan

Publisher: UPNE

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 9781584653882

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A fascinating reevaluation of U.S. literary realism during the Gilded Age.


Book Synopsis Questionable Charity by : William M. Morgan

Download or read book Questionable Charity written by William M. Morgan and published by UPNE. This book was released on 2004 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating reevaluation of U.S. literary realism during the Gilded Age.

Frantic Panoramas

Frantic Panoramas

Author: Nancy Bentley

Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

Published: 2012-05-23

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 0812201248

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Late nineteenth-century America saw an explosion in mass culture—from sensationalist tabloid newspapers to amusement parks to Wild West shows. Historians and critics have traditionally observed the advent of mass culture as undermining literature's central role in the public sphere. Literary writers of the time either reacted with a public show of disdain or retreated to conduct their own private experiments in style and form. In Frantic Panoramas, Nancy Bentley questions these narratives of opposition. For literary writers, Bentley explains, the confrontation with mass culture was less a retreat than a transformation, an ordeal through which habits of contemplative appreciation could be refashioned into new forms of critical thought. By grappling with the energies that marked mass culture, authors came to recognize kinds of human experience that were only then becoming visible as public. William Dean Howells shaped the plots of his novels around tabloid events like rail and trolley accidents and the public chaos of apartment house fires. Although Henry James was distressed at the way dime fiction had changed the very definition of literature, his meditations on mass culture led him to reimagine the novel as a collective "workshop" in which authors and readers jointly discovered new meaning. Bentley offers close readings of these and other writers such as Edith Wharton, James Weldon Johnson, Pauline Hopkins, and Gertrude Bonnin to demonstrate how leading artists took inspiration from commercial culture to create new and distinct literary forms. Drawing on original archival research and a historically grounded theory of realism, Frantic Panoramas is an innovative and comprehensive study of how the emergence of mass culture affected literary culture in America.


Book Synopsis Frantic Panoramas by : Nancy Bentley

Download or read book Frantic Panoramas written by Nancy Bentley and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2012-05-23 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Late nineteenth-century America saw an explosion in mass culture—from sensationalist tabloid newspapers to amusement parks to Wild West shows. Historians and critics have traditionally observed the advent of mass culture as undermining literature's central role in the public sphere. Literary writers of the time either reacted with a public show of disdain or retreated to conduct their own private experiments in style and form. In Frantic Panoramas, Nancy Bentley questions these narratives of opposition. For literary writers, Bentley explains, the confrontation with mass culture was less a retreat than a transformation, an ordeal through which habits of contemplative appreciation could be refashioned into new forms of critical thought. By grappling with the energies that marked mass culture, authors came to recognize kinds of human experience that were only then becoming visible as public. William Dean Howells shaped the plots of his novels around tabloid events like rail and trolley accidents and the public chaos of apartment house fires. Although Henry James was distressed at the way dime fiction had changed the very definition of literature, his meditations on mass culture led him to reimagine the novel as a collective "workshop" in which authors and readers jointly discovered new meaning. Bentley offers close readings of these and other writers such as Edith Wharton, James Weldon Johnson, Pauline Hopkins, and Gertrude Bonnin to demonstrate how leading artists took inspiration from commercial culture to create new and distinct literary forms. Drawing on original archival research and a historically grounded theory of realism, Frantic Panoramas is an innovative and comprehensive study of how the emergence of mass culture affected literary culture in America.

Pain and the Aesthetics of US Literary Realism

Pain and the Aesthetics of US Literary Realism

Author: Cynthia J. Davis

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2022-01-04

Total Pages: 243

ISBN-13: 0198858736

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The postbellum period saw many privileged Americans pursuing a civilized ideal premised on insulation from pain. Medico-scientific advances in anesthetics and analgesics and emergent religious sects like Christian Science made pain avoidance seem newly possible. The upper classes could increasingly afford to distance themselves from the suffering they claimed to feel more exquisitely than did their supposedly less refined contemporaries and antecedents. The five US literary realists examined in this study resisted this contemporary revulsion from pain without going so far as to join those who celebrated suffering for its invigorating effects. William Dean Howells, Henry James, Edith Wharton, Mark Twain, and Charles Chesnutt embraced the concept of a heightened sensitivity to pain as a consequence of the civilizing process but departed from their peers by delineating alternative definitions of a superior sensibility indebted to suffering. Although the treatment of pain in other influential nineteenth century literary modes including sentimentalism and naturalism has attracted ample scholarly attention, this book offers the first sustained analysis of pain's importance to US literary realism as practiced by five of its most influential proponents.


Book Synopsis Pain and the Aesthetics of US Literary Realism by : Cynthia J. Davis

Download or read book Pain and the Aesthetics of US Literary Realism written by Cynthia J. Davis and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022-01-04 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The postbellum period saw many privileged Americans pursuing a civilized ideal premised on insulation from pain. Medico-scientific advances in anesthetics and analgesics and emergent religious sects like Christian Science made pain avoidance seem newly possible. The upper classes could increasingly afford to distance themselves from the suffering they claimed to feel more exquisitely than did their supposedly less refined contemporaries and antecedents. The five US literary realists examined in this study resisted this contemporary revulsion from pain without going so far as to join those who celebrated suffering for its invigorating effects. William Dean Howells, Henry James, Edith Wharton, Mark Twain, and Charles Chesnutt embraced the concept of a heightened sensitivity to pain as a consequence of the civilizing process but departed from their peers by delineating alternative definitions of a superior sensibility indebted to suffering. Although the treatment of pain in other influential nineteenth century literary modes including sentimentalism and naturalism has attracted ample scholarly attention, this book offers the first sustained analysis of pain's importance to US literary realism as practiced by five of its most influential proponents.

A History of American Literature

A History of American Literature

Author: Richard Gray

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2011-09-23

Total Pages: 933

ISBN-13: 1444345680

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Updated throughout and with much new material, A History of American Literature, Second Edition, is the most up-to-date and comprehensive survey available of the myriad forms of American Literature from pre-Columbian times to the present. The most comprehensive and up-to-date history of American literature available today Covers fiction, poetry, drama, and non-fiction, as well as other forms of literature including folktale, spirituals, the detective story, the thriller, and science fiction Explores the plural character of American literature, including the contributions made by African American, Native American, Hispanic and Asian American writers Considers how our understanding of American literature has changed over the past?thirty years Situates American literature in the contexts of American history, politics and society Offers an invaluable introduction to American literature for students at all levels, academic and general readers


Book Synopsis A History of American Literature by : Richard Gray

Download or read book A History of American Literature written by Richard Gray and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-09-23 with total page 933 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Updated throughout and with much new material, A History of American Literature, Second Edition, is the most up-to-date and comprehensive survey available of the myriad forms of American Literature from pre-Columbian times to the present. The most comprehensive and up-to-date history of American literature available today Covers fiction, poetry, drama, and non-fiction, as well as other forms of literature including folktale, spirituals, the detective story, the thriller, and science fiction Explores the plural character of American literature, including the contributions made by African American, Native American, Hispanic and Asian American writers Considers how our understanding of American literature has changed over the past?thirty years Situates American literature in the contexts of American history, politics and society Offers an invaluable introduction to American literature for students at all levels, academic and general readers

American Literature in Transition, 1910–1920

American Literature in Transition, 1910–1920

Author: Mark W. Van Wienen

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2017-12-28

Total Pages: 440

ISBN-13: 1108548598

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American Literature in Transition, 1910–1920 offers provocative new readings of authors whose innovations are recognized as inaugurating Modernism in US letters, including Robert Frost, Willa Cather, T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, H. D., and Marianne Moore. Gathering the voices of both new and established scholars, the volume also reflects the diversity and contradictions of US literature of the 1910s. 'Literature' itself is construed variously, leading to explorations of jazz, the movies, and political writing as well as little magazines, lantern slides, and sports reportage. One section of thematic essays cuts across genre boundaries. Another section oriented to formats drills deeply into the workings of specific media, genres, or forms. Essays on institutions conclude the collection, although a critical mass of contributors throughout explore long-term literary and cultural trends - where political repression, race prejudice, war, and counterrevolution are no less prominent than experimentation, progress, and egalitarianism.


Book Synopsis American Literature in Transition, 1910–1920 by : Mark W. Van Wienen

Download or read book American Literature in Transition, 1910–1920 written by Mark W. Van Wienen and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-12-28 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American Literature in Transition, 1910–1920 offers provocative new readings of authors whose innovations are recognized as inaugurating Modernism in US letters, including Robert Frost, Willa Cather, T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, H. D., and Marianne Moore. Gathering the voices of both new and established scholars, the volume also reflects the diversity and contradictions of US literature of the 1910s. 'Literature' itself is construed variously, leading to explorations of jazz, the movies, and political writing as well as little magazines, lantern slides, and sports reportage. One section of thematic essays cuts across genre boundaries. Another section oriented to formats drills deeply into the workings of specific media, genres, or forms. Essays on institutions conclude the collection, although a critical mass of contributors throughout explore long-term literary and cultural trends - where political repression, race prejudice, war, and counterrevolution are no less prominent than experimentation, progress, and egalitarianism.

The Cambridge Companion to Nineteenth-Century American Literature and Politics

The Cambridge Companion to Nineteenth-Century American Literature and Politics

Author: John D. Kerkering

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2024-06-30

Total Pages: 405

ISBN-13: 1108841899

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This volume addresses the political contexts in which nineteenth-century American literature was conceived, consumed, and criticized. It shows how a variety of literary genres and forms, such as poetry, drama, fiction, oratory, and nonfiction, engaged with political questions and participated in political debate.


Book Synopsis The Cambridge Companion to Nineteenth-Century American Literature and Politics by : John D. Kerkering

Download or read book The Cambridge Companion to Nineteenth-Century American Literature and Politics written by John D. Kerkering and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2024-06-30 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume addresses the political contexts in which nineteenth-century American literature was conceived, consumed, and criticized. It shows how a variety of literary genres and forms, such as poetry, drama, fiction, oratory, and nonfiction, engaged with political questions and participated in political debate.