Literary theory Books

Book SynopsisThis volume fulfills the author''s career-long reflections on radical otherness in literature. J. Hillis Miller investigates otherness through ten nineteenth- and twentieth-century authors: Friedrich Schlegel, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Anthony Trollope, Joseph Conrad, W. B. Yeats, E. M. Forster, Marcel Proust, Paul de Man, and Jacques Derrida. From the exquisite close readings for which he is celebrated, Miller reaps a capacious understanding of otherness--one reachable not through theory but through literature itself. Otherness has wide valence in contemporary literary and cultural studies and is often understood as a misconception by hegemonic groups of subaltern ones. In a pleasing counter to this, Others conceives of otherness as something that inhabits sameness. Instances of the ''''wholly other'''' within the familiar include your sense of self or your beloved, your sense of your culture as such, or your experience of literary, theoretical, and philosopTrade Review"A book by J. Hillis Miller, one of the most influential and productive of American critics of the past four decades, has a special significance: readers familiar with his work want to know how his thinking is developing and look forward to his combination of astute close reading and theoretical awareness. Here, as always, a major strength of Miller's writing is his insightful and sensitive reading of literary works. His theoretical interests are placed at the service of careful literary interpretation, and the reader finds again and again that a work or a passage has been illuminated by his judicious remarks."—Derek Attridge, University of York"One has become spoiled over the decades by J. Hillis Miller's own brand of critical thinking. Like his other books, Others will be read not only by those interested in the particular authors he addresses, but also and especially by anyone interested in the literary enterprise in general. The exemplary quality of the interpretive act that is performed, as well as Miller's lucidity make this book appealing to a very broad audience."—Carol Jacobs, New York UniversityTable of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction 1 CHAPTER ONE Friedrich Schlegel: Catachreses for Chaos 5 CHAPTER TWO: Charles Dickens: The Other's Other in Our Mutual Friend 43 CHAPTER THREE: George Eliot: The Roar on the Other Side of Silence 65 CHAPTER FOUR: Anthony Trollope: Ideology as Other in Marion Fay 83 CHAPTER FIVE: Joseph Conrad: Should We Read Heart of Darkness? 104 CHAPTER SIX: Conrad's Secret 137 CHAPTER SEVEN: W B. Yeats: "The Cold Heaven" 170 CHAPTER EIGHT: E. M. Forster: Just Reading Howards End 183 CHAPTER NINE: Marcel Proust: Lying as a Recherche Tool 206 CHAPTER TEN: Paul de Man as Allergen 219 CHAPTER ELEVEN: Jacques Derrida's Others 259 Coda 276 Index 277

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Book SynopsisAnatomizes what's fundamentally at stake when we think of literature in terms of the experience of the reader rather than the intention of the author, and when we substitute the question of who people are for the question of what they believe.Trade Review"Michaels's absorbing new book swims against the critical stream with a brilliance and originality unmatched this side of Slavoj Zizek."--Henry Staten, Modernism/modernity "[This] book is not scholarship, criticism, or theory. It is a brazen call for the return to ideology."--Lindsay Waters, Chronicle of Higher Education "[W]hat makes this book compelling ... is his central thesis: that the apparent diversity of the marketplace of ideas, as in the marketplace of commodities, conceals fundamental uniformity (so many choices in the cereal aisle, so few in the voting booth)."--Robin J. Sowards, The Minnesota ReviewTable of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Introduction: The Blank Page 1 One: Posthistoricism 19 The End of History 19 Political Science Fictions 26 Partez au vert/Go on the green 41 The Shape of the Signifier 51 The End of Theory 66 Two: Prehistoricism 82 rocks 82 and stones 105 and trees 118 Three: Historicism 129 Remembering 129 Reliving 140 Dismembering 149 Forgetting 158 Coda: Empires of the Senseless 169 Notes 183 Index 213

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"How does globalism affect the books we read, and the way we read them? A leading scholar investigates." * New York Times Book Review *"Few scholars active today can claim to have done as much as David Damrosch to shape the discipline of comparative literature in the United States. . . . Damrosch writes with great clarity and care, vividly bringing individual figures and their ideas to life. . . . [He] not only displays the breadth of his own personal canon, but also argues compellingly for the idea that our understanding of a given text is always enhanced by comparing it with other texts, whether or not the pairings are conventional or expected."---Alexander Beecroft, Modern Philology

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Book SynopsisWhat fueled the Victorian passion for hair-jewelry and memorial rings? When would an everyday object metamorphose from commodity to precious relic? This title examines the role played by portable objects in persuading Victorian Britons that they could travel abroad with religious sentiments, family ties, and national identity intact.Trade ReviewOne of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2009 "An intelligent, thought-provoking contribution to the current critical discussion of economics and the novel, this volume examines the 19th-century proliferation of 'portable property'--i.e., objects that are endowed with sentimental value and function as reminders of Englishness abroad--and their elaboration in, and homology to, the realist Victorian novel... With this analysis, Plotz makes a fascinating contribution to the history of the novel, economic literary theory, and postcolonial criticism."--D.K. Kreisel, Choice "Plotz ... offers a richly contextualized reading of the portability of value. As in his previous work, Plotz resists narrow ideological solutions to interpretive problems, and the complexity of his approach to Victorian culture pays off in extremely useful, often surprising readings."--Dianne F. Sadoff and John Kucich, Studies in English Literature "[T]his is a fine and subtle piece of work with something important to say about the ways in which particular kinds of 'English' culture were both constructed and perpetuated by the realist novel in the mid-Victorian period."--Clare Pettitt, Victorian StudiesTable of ContentsList of Illustrations xi Preface: Getting Hold of Portable Property xiii INTRODUCTION: The Global, the Local, and the Portable 1 CHAPTER ONE: Discreet Jewels: Victorian Diamond Narratives and the Problem of Sentimental Value 24 CHAPTER TWO: The First Strawberries in India: Cultural Portability Abroad 45 CHAPTER THREE: Someone Else's Knowledge: Race and Portable Culture in Daniel Deronda 72 CHAPTER FOUR: Locating Lorna Doone: R. D. Blackmore, F. H. Burnett, and the Limits of English Regionalism 93 CHAPTER FIVE: Going Local: Characters and Environments in Thomas Hardy's Wessex 122 CHAPTER SIX: Nowhere and Everywhere: The End of Portability in William Morris's Romances 144 CONCLUSION: Is Portability Portable? 170 Notes 183 Bibliography 235 Index 257

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"One of the brilliances of this book is to suggest that tact as a mode of thinking can be linked to a type of independence, and imaginative intelligence. . . . [It is] at once provocative and generously open-ended, raising questions about what is at stake in any attempt to read and interpret."---Kirsty Martin, Times Literary Supplement"Learned, beautifully written, and crafted with evident care, Tact is one of those works that, from cover to content, exemplifies the ethos that is its subject." * Los Angeles Review of Books *"Russell’sTact is a brilliant and frequently moving study, arguing passionately for the ways in which a greater openness may lead us into richer engagements with our world and doing this by lifting off the film of familiarity that so often obscures from us the canonical writers of the nineteenth century."---Uttara Natarajan, Review in English Studies"[A] joyful and stylish book."---Diane Josefowicz, Victorian Web

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Book SynopsisMany people in Great Britain and the United States can recall elderly relatives who remembered long stretches of verse learned at school decades earlier, yet most of us were never required to recite in class. Heart Beats is the first book to examine how poetry recitation came to assume a central place in past curricular programs, and to investigateTrade ReviewWinner of the 2013 NAVSA Best Book of the Year Award, North American Victorian Studies Association "It's tempting to sentimentalize an era in which poetry--memorized, recited poetry--held so prominent a place in the culture. But its once-substantial role turns out to be a mixed and complicated tale, as thoroughly chronicled [by] Catherine Robson."--Brad Leithauser, NewYorker.com "Catherine Robson's extraordinary book, a feat of imagining as well as of scholarship, explores the memorization and reciting of poems in classrooms across England and America through substantial portions of the last two centuries."--William H. Pritchard, Weekly Standard "I hope that books like Catherine Robson's brilliant Heart Beats: Everyday Life and the Memorized Poem will mark a turning point in the history of our discipline. Written with a lightness of touch but a depth of commitment ... lively, fresh and insightful ... thoughtful and meticulous."--Chris Jones, Times Higher Education "Robson develops her arguments with a delicious range of references."--Julie Blake, English in Education "Robson does far more than give us the institutional history of verse memorization, though she does this fascinatingly well. She interrogates what performed memorization means for the study of poetry, reception, and canonization."--James Najarian, European Romantic Review "Heart Beats invites further research, and should have a significant impact on Victorian studies for some time to come."--Kirstie Blair, Tennyson Research Bulletin "[A]bsorbing, amazingly-detailed, and at times startling."--Mike Chasar, Poetry "For a wonderfully dispassionate guide to this debate, there is no better book ... Neither sentimentalist nor cynic, Robson traces the glory days of the memorised poem from the late 18th century to the Second World War."--C. P. Nield, Standpoint "[E]xpansive, imaginative, and consistently provocative work."--Jason R. Rudy, Victorian Studies "[T]he result of [Robson's] meticulousness is hardly modest; on the contrary, Heart Beats is a brilliantly original book that dares to raise riveting, if sometimes unanswerable, questions about long-forgotten children, half-remembered lessons, and the power of the memorized poem."--Angela Sorby, Modern Language QuarterlyTable of ContentsList of Figures ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 PART I - THE MEMORIZED POEM IN BRITISH AND AMERICAN PUBLIC EDUCATION 33 PART II - CASE STUDIES 91 Felicia Hemans, "Casabianca" 91 Thomas Gray, "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" 123 Charles Wolfe, "The Burial of Sir John Moore after Corunna" 191 Afterword 219 Appendixes 235 Notes 243 Works Cited 273 Index 289

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"This is an original and challenging book. Nicholson has mastered the complex history of Spenser criticism, and her supple, pointed prose carries its learning easily: Keats’s advice to Shelley, ‘Load every rift with ore’ (which, she points out in a fine passage, reworks Mammon’s to Guyon), might describe her own language. It’s major work, fascinating in its account of Spenser’s readers and acute in its understanding of the poem."---William A. Oram, Modern Language Quarterly"In tapping The Fairie Queene’s history of undisciplined reading, Nicholson has helped to thaw some of the marmoreal frigidity with which twentieth century scholarship not infrequently imbued the poem. (Paradoxically, she has done so without herself sacrificing an iota of rigor.) Spenser himself might well have appreciated the project."---Raphael Magarik, MAKE Magazine

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Winner of the Sonya Rudikoff Award, Northeast Victorian Studies Association""Winner of the Courage to Dream Book Prize, American Psychoanalytic Association""Christoff writes beautifully and passionately, and her interpretations are fascinating."---Jane O'Grady, Times Higher Education"A fascinating, deeply rewarding study, which helps us think afresh about how the Victorian novel alerts us to our most vital shared experiences."---Fraser Riddell, Victoriographies

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"One of the brilliances of this book is to suggest that tact as a mode of thinking can be linked to a type of independence, and imaginative intelligence. . . . [It is] at once provocative and generously open-ended, raising questions about what is at stake in any attempt to read and interpret."---Kirsty Martin, Times Literary Supplement"Learned, beautifully written, and crafted with evident care, Tact is one of those works that, from cover to content, exemplifies the ethos that is its subject." * Los Angeles Review of Books *"Russell’sTact is a brilliant and frequently moving study, arguing passionately for the ways in which a greater openness may lead us into richer engagements with our world and doing this by lifting off the film of familiarity that so often obscures from us the canonical writers of the nineteenth century."---Uttara Natarajan, Review in English Studies"[A] joyful and stylish book."---Diane Josefowicz, Victorian Web

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"This is an original and challenging book. Nicholson has mastered the complex history of Spenser criticism, and her supple, pointed prose carries its learning easily: Keats’s advice to Shelley, ‘Load every rift with ore’ (which, she points out in a fine passage, reworks Mammon’s to Guyon), might describe her own language. It’s major work, fascinating in its account of Spenser’s readers and acute in its understanding of the poem."---William A. Oram, Modern Language Quarterly"In tapping The Fairie Queene’s history of undisciplined reading, Nicholson has helped to thaw some of the marmoreal frigidity with which twentieth century scholarship not infrequently imbued the poem. (Paradoxically, she has done so without herself sacrificing an iota of rigor.) Spenser himself might well have appreciated the project."---Raphael Magarik, MAKE Magazine

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"This is a compelling read; Rush draws on a plethora of contemporary poetic handbooks, writers’ remarks in letters and poems about their own choices of poetic form and her own superbly microscopic close readings. . . . A subtle, thoughtful and well-supported account of the ideological implications of poetic form."---Peter J. Smith, Times Higher Education

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Spiced with citations of critics past and present, this cogent, necessary book is ideal for students in Victorian surveys because it both covers the field and stretches it out to the global and the decolonizing."---N. Birns, Choice Reviews"[A] provocative and important new book on Victorian fiction."---John O. Jordan, Dickens Quarterly"Written with her trademark combination of sharp-wittedness and bluntness, Elaine Freedgood’s short but ambitious book, Worlds Enough: The Invention of Realism in the Victorian Novel, aims to show that the prevailing understandingof the Victorian novel’s realism is fundamentally wrong and, more important, pernicious in its effects. . . . Elaine Freedgood is an iconoclastic, inventive critic whose work is suffused with moral and political urgency."---Daniel Hack, Modern Philology"What this book is especially good on is the experience of process in the reading of the [Victorian] novel."---Philip Davis, Review of English Studies"Rigorously theoretical, enlivened with an eye for quirks of material, social, and textual meaning, and full of keen perceptions about a wide range of novels. A luminous provocation, it will spark much discussion and debate."---John Kucich, Victorian Studies

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Winner of the Sonya Rudikoff Award, Northeast Victorian Studies Association""Winner of the Courage to Dream Book Prize, American Psychoanalytic Association""Christoff writes beautifully and passionately, and her interpretations are fascinating."---Jane O'Grady, Times Higher Education"A fascinating, deeply rewarding study, which helps us think afresh about how the Victorian novel alerts us to our most vital shared experiences."---Fraser Riddell, Victoriographies

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Book SynopsisSanford Schwartz situates Modernist poetics in the intellectual ferment of the early twentieth century, which witnessed major developments in philosophy, science, and the arts. Beginning with the works of various philosophers--Bergson, James, Bradley, Nietzsche, and Husserl, among others--he establishes a matrix that brings together not only the prTrade Review"Schwartz explores several oppositions that underlie the thinking of the early modernists, and uses them as a frame for original analysis of individual essays and poems. The result is that many cliches of early literary modernism--Pound's ideogrammic method, Eliot's objective correlative--are refreshed by being placed in a larger context. One of this book's great virtues is that it uncovers the philosophical assumptions behind the new poetry without turning the poetry into philosophy."--A. Walton Litz, Times Literary SupplementTable of Contents*FrontMatter, pg. i*CONTENTS, pg. vii*ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, pg. ix*INTRODUCTION, pg. 1*CHAPTER I. "This Invented World": Abstraction and Experience at the Turn of the Century, pg. 12*CHAPTER II. Elements of the New Poetics, pg. 50*CHAPTER III. Ezra Pound: Cultural Memory and the Visionary Imagination, pg. 114*CHAPTER IV. Incarnate Words: Eliot's Early Career, pg. 155*CONCLUSION: The New Criticism and Beyond, pg. 209*NOTES, pg. 216*INDEX, pg. 225

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Book SynopsisA reader may be in" a text as a character is in a novel, but also as one is in a train of thought--both possessing and being possessed by it. This paradox suggests the ambiguities inherent in the concept of audience. In these original essays, a group of international scholars raises fundamental questions about the status--be it rhetorical, semioticTable of Contents*FrontMatter, pg. i*Contents, pg. v*Preface, pg. vii*Introduction: Varieties Of Audience-Oriented Criticism, pg. 1*Prolegomena To A Theory Of Reading, pg. 46*Reading As Construction, pg. 67*The Reading Of Fictional Texts, pg. 83*Interaction Between Text And Reader, pg. 106*The Readerhood Of Man, pg. 120*Do Readers Make Meaning?, pg. 149*Fiction As Interpretation Interpretation As Fiction, pg. 165*The Dialectic Of Metaphor: An Anthropological Essay On Hermeneutics, pg. 183*Toward A Sociology Of Reading, pg. 205*"What's Hecuba To Us?" The Audience's Experience Of Literary Borrowing, pg. 241*Montaigne's Conception Of Reading In The Context Of Renaissance Poetics And Modern Criticism, pg. 264*Toward A Theory Of Reading In The Visual Arts: Poussin's The Arcadian Shepherds, pg. 293*Exemplary Pornography: Barres, Loyola, And The Novel, pg. 325*Re-Covering "The Purloined Letter": Reading As A Personal Transaction, pg. 350*The Theory And Practice Of Reading Nouveaux Romans: Robbe-Grillet's Topologie D'une Cite Fantdme, pg. 371*Annotated Bibliography Of Audience-Oriented Criticism, pg. 401*Notes On Contributors, pg. 425*Subject Index, pg. 429*Index Of Names, pg. 435

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Book SynopsisTrade Review'One of the great virtues of the book is that it moves us away from self-congratulatory accounts of naive eighteenth-century readers and acknowledges the sophistication of the period’s aesthetic strategies […] There is a real spirit of intellectual generosity, collective endeavour, and dialogue in Le Roman véritable, in keeping with the spirit of the Republic of Letters.''Eighteenth-Century Fiction'J. Herman fait l’hypthèse que la figure de l’enfant trouvé est à comprendre comme métaphore des ‘problèmes fondamentaux qui ont nourris les querelles entre romanciers et critiques dont s’est entourée la vogue du roman-mémoires entre la fin du XVIIe siècle et le debut du XIXe’ […] on voit à quelles passionnantes enquêtes J. Herman nous appelle.'Eighteenth-Century Fiction'[a] compelling new way to read eighteenth-century French fiction by conducting a sort of virtual genetic criticism […] the various chapters in Section II suggest the versatility of Herman’s method and the breadth of his knowledge.'Modern Language ReviewTable of ContentsJan Herman, Introduction générale: ‘ceci n’est pas un roman’I. Les dilemmes du roman1. Mladen Kozul, Le dilemme du roman de Georges May2. Mladen Kozul, Le ‘dilemme du roman’ et la poétique classique3. Jan Herman, Stratégies préfacielles et roman veritableII. Légitimer le roman: l’argument narratifJan Herman, Introduction4. Jan Herman, Le discours devant l’opinion5. Jan Herman, Fictions légitimantes6. Mladen Kozul, Le roman entre orthodoxie et hétérodoxie7. Mladen Kozul, Séduction poétique, séduction amoureuse: du livre au corpsJan Herman, ConclusionIII. Légitimer la fiction: l’argument réflexifNathalie Kremer, Introduction8. Nathalie Kremer, ‘Les charmes de la fiction’: pour une fiction vraisemblable9. Nathalie Kremer, ‘Jamais au spectateur n’offrez rien d’incroyable’: vraisemblance du récit veritable10. Nathalie Kremer, ‘Invraisemblable mais vrai...’: le roman entre vérité et invraisemblance11. Nathalie Kremer, ‘Les incroyables extravagances de la fiction’: le roman invraisemblableNathalie Kremer, ConclusionJan Herman, Conclusions générales: du dilemme du roman au paradoxe de la fiction: roman et mensongeBibliographieIndex

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Discours de l’affecti. Langue et affectii. Langues et émotionsiii. Connaître les émotionsiv. Emotions et cognitionv. Littérature et affect2. Au-delà des passions, et en deçài. L’ère de la passion: le legs du classicismeii. Le tournant du siècle3. Prévost: toute la gamme4. Marivaux: des voies nouvelles5. Crébillon: le jeu des passions6. Sentiment et sensibilité7. Le triomphe du sentiment moralisantAppendice: Eléments de vocabulaireTable 1. Distribution comparée de mots affectifsTable 2. Gamme du vocabulaire affectif dans La Vie de MarianneBibliographieIndex

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Book SynopsisThe restoration of humanism to the radical leftTrade Review'A major intervention into contemporary discussions about the resources of political hope, this volume insists upon the continuing indispensability and, indeed, radicalness of humanism as both a critical philosophy and a moral-political template' -- Neil Lazarus, Professor of English and Comparative Literary Studies, University of WarwickTable of ContentsSeries Preface Introduction: Humanism’s Other Story - Timothy Brennan 1. The Rise, Decline and Possible Revival of Socialist Humanism - Barbara Epstein 2. Marxist Humanism after Structuralism and Post-structuralism: The Case for Renewal - Kevin Anderson 3. Postcolonialism is a Humanism - Robert Spencer 4. Queer Theory, Solidarity and Bodies Political - David Alderson Conclusion - David Alderson and Robert Spencer Index

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Book SynopsisThe works of Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) are widely acclaimed as being among the most original and provocative writings of twentieth-century critical thought, and have become required reading for scholars and students in a range of academic disciplines. This book provides a lucid introduction to Benjamin''s oeuvre through a close and sensitive reading not only of his major studies, but also of some of his less familiar essays and fragments. Gilloch offers an original interpretation of, and fresh insights into, the continuities between Benjamin''s always demanding and seemingly disparate texts. Gilloch''s book will be of particular interest to students and scholars in social theory, literary theory, cultural and media studies and urban studies who are seeking a sophisticated yet readable overview of Benjamin''s work. It will also prove rewarding reading for those already well-versed in Benjaminian thought.Trade Review"This is an excellent introduction to Benjamin's thought, written with great clarity and richly located within his biography. Gilloch's focus upon Benjamin's reconstruction of the 'afterlife' of things enables him to reveal new interconnections and interpretive trajectories within Benjamin's themes and texts, whether they be his writings on language, literature, the city, the new media or the Arcades Project. A most welcome addition to Polity's series on contemporary thinkers." David Frisby, University of Glasgow "A fine text to accompany a firsthand reading of Benjamin, such reading is necessary to understand the thinker critiqued here." Library Journal "The book highlights some major motifs of Benjamin's work and will probably be of interest, above all, to students of media and related aspects of social history or theory" Brendan Moran, Philosophy in ReviewTable of ContentsAcknowledgements viii Abbreviations x Introduction: Benjamin as a Key Contemporary Thinker 1 1 Immanent Criticism and Exemplary Critique 27 2 Allegory and Melancholy 57 3 From Cityscape to Dreamworld 88 4 Paris and the Arcades 113 5 Culture and Critique in Crisis 140 6 Benjamin On-Air, Benjamin on Aura 163 7 Love at Last Sight 198 Conclusion: Towards a Contemporary Constellation 234 Notes 249 Bibliography 289 Index 298

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Book SynopsisWalter Benjamin (1892-1940), one of the most original and perceptive thinkers of the twentieth century, offered a unique insight into the profound impact of the media on modern society. Jaeho Kang s book offers a lucid introduction to Benjamin s theory of the media and its continuing relevance today.Trade Review"In Walter Benjamin and the Media Jaeho Kang strikes a near perfect balance between biographical narrative and theoretical analysis. In doing so, Benjamin�s media critique is fully contextualised removing any notion of obsolescence which may arise from a contemporary reading." LSE Review of Books For too long Walter Benjamin's lapidary texts have merely sparkled in the distance, unintegrated into everyday analyses of media and communications research. Jaeho Kang's fluent and energetic new reading of Benjamin's writings on radio, storytelling, media industries, and urban culture reinvigorates our connection with this great 20th century thinker of cultural change. Kang's beautifully organised book provides us with a welcome toolkit for grasping today's high-speed reconfiguration of our once familiar media landscapes. Nick Couldry, London School of Economics We know of Walter Benjamin in several guises: failed academic, brilliant journalist, messianic writer. But do we really know about Benjamin the media theorist, beyond �Work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction�? Jaeho Kang takes us across disciplines along the intensely original intellectual journey that led Benjamin to the media. Brilliant and grave, erudite and luminous, Kang�s book invites us to share Benjamin�s incandescent curiosity. Daniel Dayan, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris "Kang's exploration of the relationship between Banjamin's media theorizing of McLuhan and Baudrillard renders Walter Benjamin and the Media a substantial achievement that is well worth a read."H-Net ReviewsTable of ContentsAbbreviations ix Acknowledgements xi 1 Introducing Dr Benjamin 1 There and Then, Here and Now 1 Figuring Benjamin 5 Configuring Benjamin 15 2 The Crisis of Communication and the Information Industry 24 Introduction 24 Storytelling and the Crisis of the Novel 26 The Newspaper and the Information Industry 38 The Intellectuals in the Age of Mass Media 50 Conclusion 62 3 Radio and Mediated Storytelling 65 Introduction 65 Towards a Critical Sociology of the Audience 68 Radio Model 74 Some Motifs for Media Pedagogy 85 Conclusion 97 4 Art and Politics in the Age of their Technological Reproducibility 100 Introduction 100 Photographic Reproducibility 102 The Media Culture of Distraction 117 Media and Democracy 129 Conclusion 147 5 The Media City: Reading The Arcades Project 150 Introduction 150 Phantasmagorias of Modernity 153 Media Spectacle and Urban Space 168 Tactility of Media Critic 193 Conclusion 198 6 Conclusion: The Actuality of Benjamin’s Media Critique 202 Notes 216 Further Reading 245 Index 251

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Book SynopsisWalter Benjamin (1892-1940), one of the most original and perceptive thinkers of the twentieth century, offered a unique insight into the profound impact of the media on modern society. Jaeho Kang s book offers a lucid introduction to Benjamin s theory of the media and its continuing relevance today.Trade Review"In Walter Benjamin and the Media Jaeho Kang strikes a near perfect balance between biographical narrative and theoretical analysis. In doing so, Benjamin�s media critique is fully contextualised removing any notion of obsolescence which may arise from a contemporary reading." LSE Review of Books For too long Walter Benjamin's lapidary texts have merely sparkled in the distance, unintegrated into everyday analyses of media and communications research. Jaeho Kang's fluent and energetic new reading of Benjamin's writings on radio, storytelling, media industries, and urban culture reinvigorates our connection with this great 20th century thinker of cultural change. Kang's beautifully organised book provides us with a welcome toolkit for grasping today's high-speed reconfiguration of our once familiar media landscapes. Nick Couldry, London School of Economics We know of Walter Benjamin in several guises: failed academic, brilliant journalist, messianic writer. But do we really know about Benjamin the media theorist, beyond �Work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction�? Jaeho Kang takes us across disciplines along the intensely original intellectual journey that led Benjamin to the media. Brilliant and grave, erudite and luminous, Kang�s book invites us to share Benjamin�s incandescent curiosity. Daniel Dayan, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris "Kang's exploration of the relationship between Banjamin's media theorizing of McLuhan and Baudrillard renders Walter Benjamin and the Media a substantial achievement that is well worth a read."H-Net ReviewsTable of ContentsAcknowledgements xi 1 Introducing Dr Benjamin 1 There and Then, Here and Now 1 Figuring Benjamin 5 Configuring Benjamin 15 2 The Crisis of Communication and the Information Industry 24 Introduction 24 Storytelling and the Crisis of the Novel 26 The Newspaper and the Information Industry 38 The Intellectuals in the Age of Mass Media 50 Conclusion 62 3 Radio and Mediated Storytelling 65 Introduction 65 Towards a Critical Sociology of the Audience 68 Radio Model 74 Some Motifs for Media Pedagogy 85 Conclusion 97 4 Art and Politics in the Age of their Technological Reproducibility 100 Introduction 100 Photographic Reproducibility 102 The Media Culture of Distraction 117 Media and Democracy 129 Conclusion 147 5 The Media City: Reading The Arcades Project 150 Introduction 150 Phantasmagorias of Modernity 153 Media Spectacle and Urban Space 168 Tactility of Media Critic 193 Conclusion 198 6 Conclusion: The Actuality of Benjamin’s Media Critique 202 Notes 216 Further Reading 245 Index 251

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Book Synopsis* This is a unique testimony to one of the most important literary friendships of our time. Robbe-Grillet, the master of the nouveau roman, considered Barthes, France s greatest postwar literary theorist and critic, as one of his very few true friends.Trade Review"The warmth of friendship between the two is palpable, with some comic teasing: 'Roland speaks quietly,' Robbe-Grillet says. 'I don't speak quietly,' Barthes objects. 'You don't speak quietly,' his friend ripostes, 'but you take the precaution of always having a cigarette between your lips, which, as you know [...] doesn't allow you to shout things out.' The modern literary event-goer wonders melancholically: où sont les Gitanes d'antan?" Steven Poole, The Guardian "The book's arrival in English should be embraced as a challenge to the many reductions of 'French theory' to a mausoleum of movements, -isms, and masterable ideas. A disapporving critic once called Barthes the Pierre Laval to Robbe-Grillet's Marshal Pétain, but this volume shows them to be eels - not quite a pair, not easy to catch, but always electric." Times Literary Supplement "The image of Robbe-Grillet lying in the bath reciting texts by Barthes that he has learned by heart is only one of many unexpected delights of this extremely engaging little book. The dialogue between Barthes and Robbe-Grillet at Cerisy - friendly fencing - teaches much about each of them." Jonathan Culler, Cornell University "Robbe-Grillet describes his friendship with Barthes as a literary love affair without intimacy: 'un certain type de rapport amoureux'. This paradox is traced in its complexity and mystery through the four brief texts of this collection in which the novelist explores the different phases of his relationship with his most eminent critic, laying bare their shared vulnerability and fragility in a way which compels the reader's attention." Christina Howells, University of OxfordTable of ContentsForeword by Olivier Corpet viiWhy I love Barthes, 1978 1Roland Barthes's choice, 1981 51Yet another Roland Barthes, 1995 61I like, I don't like, 1980 77Translator's Notes 81

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Book SynopsisNot exercising as much as you should? Counting your calories in your sleep? Feeling ashamed for not being happier? You may be a victim of the wellness syndrome.Trade Review"In their witty, caustic new book.... Carl Cederström and André Spicer dissect our contemporary infatuation with a cluster of seemingly innocuous concepts – health, happiness, mindfulness, authenticity and positivity – seeking to lay bare the pernicious, individualistic values that underlie them."—William Rees, The TLS "Carl Cederström and André Spicer's brilliantly sardonic anatomy of this 'wellness syndrome' concentrates on the ways in which the pressure to be well operates as a moralising command and obliterates political engagement.... These authors would no doubt agree that there is nothing wrong with being well or wanting to be well. But, as their deeply humane and persuasive book shows, being told to be well is a different matter entirely. A society where wellness is obligatory is a sick one."—Steven Poole, The Guardian "When I read their angry, hilarious book, The Wellness Syndrome, I felt like I was being shaken awake from a dream."—Helen Rumbelow, The Times "The Wellness Syndrome slinks like a submarine beneath the disingenuously placid surface-narratives of contemporary ideology, before torpedoing, with devastating effect, that most pernicious of all neo-liberal doctrines: positiveness."—Tom McCarthy, author of Remainder, C and Satin Island "A fascinating and timely investigation of the modern ideology of 'wellness', with its moralizing insistence that being a good member of society means meditating more, exercising more and using your smartphone to track sleep patterns, your diet and even your sex life. Carl Cederström and André Spicer vividly show how the consumer economy has co-opted health and even happiness itself- and warn that our fixation on wellness is ultimately an anxiety-inducing, isolating and joyless way to live."—Oliver Burkeman, Guardian columnist and author of The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking "A wonderful piece of work which exposes the wellness ideology for what it is: a stupid and dreadful fantasy of authentic self-mastery. As this timely and entertaining book shows, such fantasies must be nailed.'—Simon Critchley, The New School for Social Research "We all obscurely sense that politics has dramatically shifted. Less involved in the 'body politic' than ever, we are all far more deeply engaged with our own bodies, through medicine, meditation workshops or fitness classes. As this insightful and elegant book shows, this shift marks a dramatic change in our societies as it makes health and happiness the new markers of 'morality' or 'immorality'. Fat people and smokers are now united in their common immorality. Marshalling an impressive array of evidence, this book sheds a much-needed light on the new tyranny exerted by the cultural imperatives of health and happiness."—Eva Illouz, Hebrew University of Jerusalem "Using a comprehensive set of case studies, Carl Cederström and André Spicer diagnose contemporary capitalism's obsession with 'wellness'. The Wellness Syndrome is a mordantly witty analysis of how ideology works today. It demonstrates that the fixation on health is itself pathological – and that sickness can be liberating."—Mark Fisher, Goldsmiths University "Overall, as an anatomy of modern optimisation culture the book is sharp and laconic, as readers of the authors' excellent previous work, The Wellness Syndrome, will have expected."—The GuardianTable of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgementsIntroduction1. The Perfect Human2. The Health Bazaar3. The Happiness Doctrine4. The Chosen Life5. Wellness, FarewellConclusionNotes

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Book SynopsisFor more than 30 years and until his death in 2004, Jacques Derrida remained one of the most influential contemporary philosophers. It may be difficult to evaluate what forms his legacy will take in the future but Derrida Now provides some provocative suggestions. Derrida?s often-controversial early reception was based on readings of his complex works, published in journals and collected in books. More recently attention has tended to focus on his later work, which grew out of the seminars that he presented each year in France and the US. The full texts of these seminars are now the subject of a major publication project, to be produced over the next ten years. Derrida Now presents contemporary articles based on or around the study of Derrida. It provides a critical introduction to Derrida?s complex and controversial thought, offers careful analysis of some of his most important concepts, and includes essays that address the major strands of his thought. DeTrade Review"This book gathers the current thinking and perspectives on the work of Jacques Derrida and his treatments on a variety of contemporary issues, including animals, justice and death. Original and rigorous, and yet accessible, these essays also reveal the continued relevance of Derrida�s work in helping us think our present intellectual, cultural and political situations in our day-to-day lives." Nicole Anderson, Macquarie University, Sydney"This volume brings together some of the most knowledgeable, sensitive and attentive readers of Derrida to address a range of issues spanning the apparent divide between "early" and "late" Derrida. Bennington, for instance, is quasi-exemplary in his approach to Derrida's dignity. Royle re-opens and re-illuminates the challenging as well as loving relationship between literature and philosophy. Other questions addressed include the pressing matter of "the animal" throughout Derrida's work."Judith Still, University of Nottingham"This volume brings together some of the leading lights in what can now be called the field of Derrida studies. Phillips does a fine job editing and introducing this volume."ChoiceTable of ContentsContentsEditor’s IntroductionJohn W.P. Phillips1. Transcendental Difference and the Auto-Relation: Critical OverviewJohn W.P. Phillips 2. Derrida’s Dignity Geoffrey Bennington3. Stepping Out with Freud and Derrida: On the Royal Road of Interpretation Roy Sellars4. The Transparent University: Kant, Derrida and a New University Law Graham Allen 5. Does Deconstruction Imply Vegetarianism?Martin McQuillan 6. After Derrida’s Foi et savoir: From Rejection to the (Animal-)Reject for the “Post-Secular”Irving Goh7. Composition Displacement Peggy Kamuf8. Jacques Derrida and the Future of the NovelNicholas Royle9. Derrida, Code Enforcement, and the Question of JusticeHugh J. SilvermanNotes

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Book SynopsisFor more than 30 years and until his death in 2004, Jacques Derrida remained one of the most influential contemporary philosophers. It may be difficult to evaluate what forms his legacy will take in the future but Derrida Now provides some provocative suggestions.Trade Review"This book gathers the current thinking and perspectives on the work of Jacques Derrida and his treatments on a variety of contemporary issues, including animals, justice and death. Original and rigorous, and yet accessible, these essays also reveal the continued relevance of Derrida�s work in helping us think our present intellectual, cultural and political situations in our day-to-day lives." Nicole Anderson, Macquarie University, Sydney"This volume brings together some of the most knowledgeable, sensitive and attentive readers of Derrida to address a range of issues spanning the apparent divide between "early" and "late" Derrida. Bennington, for instance, is quasi-exemplary in his approach to Derrida's dignity. Royle re-opens and re-illuminates the challenging as well as loving relationship between literature and philosophy. Other questions addressed include the pressing matter of "the animal" throughout Derrida's work."Judith Still, University of Nottingham"This volume brings together some of the leading lights in what can now be called the field of Derrida studies. Phillips does a fine job editing and introducing this volume."ChoiceTable of ContentsContentsEditor’s IntroductionJohn W.P. Phillips1. Transcendental Difference and the Auto-Relation: Critical OverviewJohn W.P. Phillips 2. Derrida’s Dignity Geoffrey Bennington3. Stepping Out with Freud and Derrida: On the Royal Road of Interpretation Roy Sellars4. The Transparent University: Kant, Derrida and a New University Law Graham Allen 5. Does Deconstruction Imply Vegetarianism?Martin McQuillan 6. After Derrida’s Foi et savoir: From Rejection to the (Animal-)Reject for the “Post-Secular”Irving Goh7. Composition Displacement Peggy Kamuf8. Jacques Derrida and the Future of the NovelNicholas Royle9. Derrida, Code Enforcement, and the Question of JusticeHugh J. SilvermanNotes

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Book Synopsis* Jacques Ranciere is a leading French philosopher, particularly well known for his work in aesthetics and political philosophy * In this concise and brilliant text, Ranciere presents a thoughtful analysis of the way in which artworks and films represent historical events and those who were involved.Trade Review"As our world seems to continually move from one catastrophe to the next without a credible governing leadership, authors like Rancière... force us to conceive of politics differently." LA Review of Books “The equality of all before the light and the inequality of the little people as the great pass by are both written on the same photographic plate.” With this sentence, Jacques Rancière effectively aligns his conception of aesthetic theory as the always antagonistic distribution of the sensible under the sign of the demand for equality with the invention of photography. It is a beautiful and breathtaking conceit in what is, perhaps, the most beautiful of Rancière’s texts. His accounts here of the figures of history in photography, film, and painting generally - with dazzling accounts of particular works - expand and deepen his aesthetic theory in intriguing ways. Indeed, I cannot imagine a more inviting entrée to Rancière’s thinking about art, history and politics than this little book." J.M. Bernstein, New School for Social ResearchTable of ContentsThe Unforgettable1. In Front of the Camera Lens2. Behind the Window3. The Threshold of the Visible4. In the Face of DisappearanceSenses and Figures of History1. Of Four Senses of History2. History and Representation: Three Poetics of Modernity3. On Three Forms of History PaintingFilms cited

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Book Synopsis* Jacques Ranciere is a leading French philosopher, particularly well known for his work in aesthetics and political philosophy * In this concise and brilliant text, Ranciere presents a thoughtful analysis of the way in which artworks and films represent historical events and those who were involved.Trade Review"As our world seems to continually move from one catastrophe to the next without a credible governing leadership, authors like Rancière... force us to conceive of politics differently." LA Review of Books “The equality of all before the light and the inequality of the little people as the great pass by are both written on the same photographic plate.” With this sentence, Jacques Rancière effectively aligns his conception of aesthetic theory as the always antagonistic distribution of the sensible under the sign of the demand for equality with the invention of photography. It is a beautiful and breathtaking conceit in what is, perhaps, the most beautiful of Rancière’s texts. His accounts here of the figures of history in photography, film, and painting generally - with dazzling accounts of particular works - expand and deepen his aesthetic theory in intriguing ways. Indeed, I cannot imagine a more inviting entrée to Rancière’s thinking about art, history and politics than this little book." J.M. Bernstein, New School for Social ResearchTable of ContentsThe Unforgettable1. In Front of the Camera Lens2. Behind the Window3. The Threshold of the Visible4. In the Face of DisappearanceSenses and Figures of History1. Of Four Senses of History2. History and Representation: Three Poetics of Modernity3. On Three Forms of History PaintingFilms cited

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Book SynopsisA wide-ranging analysis of French literature and immigration, inventing a new category for migrant texts.Trade Review"What makes this book amazingly convincing are the insightful analyses of key literary works, which help illuminate the concept of the "migrant text," and provide in themselves superb examples of contemporary critical readings. The Migrant Text is an original and excellent contribution that should have an extensive readership." - Francois Pare, University of Waterloo

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Book SynopsisRussian Formalism, one of the twentieth century's most important movements in literary criticism, has received far less attention than most of its rivals. Examining Formalism in light of more recent developments in literary theory, Peter Steiner here offers the most comprehensive critique of Formalism to date. Steiner studies the work of the...Trade Review"One of the most advanced, sophisticated, and consistently self-reflective works in literary (meta)theory to date-in some respects akin to Hayden White's influential Metahistory, written with comparable verve and panache."-Review in World Literature Today "We must be grateful to Peter Steiner for having written such a lucid, critical exposition based on a firsthand knowledge of the texts and the commentary on them."-Rene Wellek, Poetics Today "Peter Steiner conducts a crisp, metapoetical analysis of the diverse phenomenon of Russian Formalism in an attempt to identify what united, and unites, the work of scholars such as Viktor Shklovsky, Yury Tynyanov, Roman Jakobson, Boris Eykhenbaum, and Boris Tomashevsky."-Times Literary SupplementTable of Contents1. Who Is Formalism, What Is She?2. The Three Metaphors3. A Synecdoche4. The Developmental Significance of Russian Formalism

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Book SynopsisDrawing on his extensive fieldwork in living oral traditions, Albert Bates Lord here concentrates on the epic singers and their art as manifested in texts or performance.Trade ReviewA welcome publication.... The book contains eleven of his most important previously published articles and two studies which have not been published before.... There is something to be learned from every one of these studies. * Classical Journal *

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Book SynopsisBeginning with Aristotle and the Greeks and ending with semiotics and post-structuralism, Theories of the Theatre is the first comprehensive survey of Western dramatic theory. In this expanded edition the author has updated the book and added a new...Trade ReviewA comprehensive and readable guide that will be the standard work for many years to come. * Times Literary Supplement *Carlson has taken on the monumental task of abstracting the major theoretical statements on the theater from the Greeks to the present. He cogently summarizes the texts, drawing comparisons freely while avoiding evaluation. The book's organization is historical, with national divisions until the 20th century, at which time all countries are considered together within much more finely defined time limits. This is a much needed book. * Choice *The coverage in Theories of the Theatre is remarkable. It is already difficult to imagine seriously undertaking theatre studies without this volume in a prominent place on one's shelf. * Theatre Survey *

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Book SynopsisFeagin develops a psychological model for understanding how one becomes emotionally engaged with something one knows is fictional.Trade ReviewSusan Feagan's closely and carefully argued book... represents a distinctive and significant contribution.... Valuable, thoughtful, and closely argued,... Reading with Feeling is a work that no one who is interested in the roles played by affective response in out understanding and appreciation of works of art can afford to ignore. -- Alex Neill * Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism *Rewarding.... There is much that is worthwile to ponder in this provocative book. * Philosophical Review *This important book will be a benchmark for future discussions of the topic.... The clarity of its presentation, its agreeable lightness of tone, and the carefulness and detail of its arguments make the book a model for philosophical theorizing, whether about emotions or about literature.... The importance to aesthetics of Reading with Feeling lies... in the thorough grounding it provides for the very idea of emotional response. That is no mean achievement. Philosophers of mind, as well as aestheticians, could learn much from it. -- Peter Lamarque * Mind *

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Book SynopsisWhat is it for a sentence to have a certain meaning? This is the question that William P. Alston addresses in this major contribution to the philosophy of language.Trade Review"Illocutionary Acts and Sentence Meaning makes a significant contribution to both speech-act theory and to speech-act semantics. It is exceptionally well organized and the level of discussion and argumentation is high. Part I contains some of the best and most detailed analyses of illocutionary acts since Austin, and Part II fills a large lacuna in the theory of meaning." —Robert M. Harnish, University of ArizonaJ. L. Austin's How to Do Things with Words was seen by many as a landmark in analytical philosophy... This lucid and comprehensive study provides a valuable starting point for anyone wishing to build on Austin's legacy. * International Philosophical Quarterly *This book deserves all the attention it is bound to get.... It will stimulate a lot of discussion and should be read by any serious philosopher of language. * Philosophical Quarterly *"This is an impressive book. It is clear, vigorously argued, admirably structured, with conclusions about the nature of meaning, which have retained their freshness, interest and relevance for present researchers, not only those working in speech-act theory but for those devoted to the broader topic of meaning-theory." —Mind

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Book SynopsisMemoirs in which trauma takes a major—or the major—role challenge the limits of autobiography. Leigh Gilmore presents a series of "limit-cases"—texts that combine elements of autobiography, fiction, biography, history, and theory while representing...Trade ReviewLeigh Gilmore's The Limits of Autobiography is a fine addition to the body of excellent recent work in trauma studies, and is highly recommended for all working in the mental health disciplines.... The writing is extremely fine throughout, and the book is a rich cornucopia of literary and psychological analyses, theoretical sophistication, and interdisciplinary connectedness; these treasures can only be suggested here. * Metapsychology Online Review *Through theoretically nuanced, lucid, and insightful readings, Gilmore demonstrates the ability of narrative to transform trauma, to speak to a certain truth about the relationship between trauma and identity that goes beyond the exigencies of accuracy and objectivity that pertain to a juridical contect.... Any reader interested in the myriad interpenetrations of violence, the law, identity, family, and life writing will find much to admire in this impressive study. * Biography *Gilmore offers astute and compelling commentaries in relation to the social and psychic forms within which selected autobiographers told their personal stories in literate and unconventional ways.... Informative, thought-provoking chapters comprise this unique and highly recommended contribution to the literary study of the autobiography. * The Bookwatch *Table of ContentsIntroduction - the limits of autobiography; represent yourself; bastard testimony - incest and illegitimacy in Dorothy Allison's "Bastard Out of Carolina"; there will always be a father - transference and the auto/biographical demand in Mikal Gilmore's "Shot in the Heart"; there will always be a mother - serial autobiography and Jamaica Kincaid; without names - an anatomy of absence in Jeanette Winterson's "Written on the Body"; conclusion - the knowing subject and an alternative jurisprudence of trauma.

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Book SynopsisIn The Senses of Modernism, Sara Danius develops a radically new theoretical and historical understanding of high modernism. The author closely analyzes Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain, Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past, and James Joyce's...Trade ReviewDanius's historical analysis of the complex relationship of technology to literary/aesthetic modernism (emphasizing the years 1880-1930) provides a new and challenging view of high classical modernism.... Danius bases her observations and conclusions on a solid survey of past critical thought; 37 pages of detailed notes and a 13-page index make the study especially useful for advanced scholars. Summing Up: Recommended. * Choice *In this book, Sara Danius examines the ways that new technologies influenced the arts of classic modernism from 1880 to 1930, with a concentration on high modernism, in the 1920s.... I found the book intriguing and fascinating. It is certainly an important contribution to our understanding of the intersection of perception and technology, and provides important insights about the role that technology can play in the arts. -- George K. Shortess, Lehigh University * Leonardo *The central aim of this accomplished and lucid study is to dispel the notion that perception in modernist texts can be seen as a flight from the world of modernity and technology into subjectivity and particularity.... Danius's assertion that the senses become technologically mediated in modernity is supported by discussions of visual theory as it is implicit in various optical devices, in Sander's photo-archive, Marey's work, and the conceptualization of cinema in Vertov and others. -- Tim Armstrong, University of London * Modernism/modernity *In her persuasive, well-written exploration of technology's essential yet underestimated role in high modernism, Danius establishes a vivid picture of the modernist landscape as one where technologically enhanced means of perception became a prominent component of the aesthetic discourse.... Danius's ability to utilize a wide body of theory and to draw adeptly on examples from film, painting, and photography to support her close readings of three pioneering modernist novels makes this a provocative, rewarding study from a variety of vantage points. -- Tim Harte, Bryn Mawr College * Bryn Mawr Review of Comparative Literature *Overall, this is a challenging and rewarding analysis by a literary scholar who is deeply immersed in the aesthetic categories of High Modernism. It may be well to note that she is interested in technologies such as X-rays not as artifacts but insofar as they affect the perceptual apparatus of the modern subject. -- Barry Katz, California College of the Arts * Technology and Culture *

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Book SynopsisThe field of lesbian studies is often framed in terms of the relation between lesbianism and invisibility. Annamarie Jagose here takes a radical new approach, suggesting that the focus on invisibility and visibility is perhaps not the most productive way of looking at lesbian representability. Jagose argues that the theoretical preoccupation with metaphors of visibility is part of the problem it attempts to remedy. In her account, the regulatory difference between heterosexuality and homosexuality relies less on codes of visual recognition than on a cultural adherence to the force of first order, second order sexual sequence. As Jagose points out, sequence does not simply specify what comes before and what comes after; it also implies precedence: what comes first and what comes second.Jagose reads canonical novels by Charles Dickens, Henry James, Virginia Woolf, and Daphne du Maurier, drawing upon their elaboration of sexual sequence. In these innovative readings, tropes suchTrade ReviewJagose draws on Foucault and Barthes to comment on the diffusion of sexual knowledge through the scientific/pornographic with the imperative to represent as uncoded that which is accessible through the photographic lens. By stripping the effects of sequence back to its licensing mechanics, Inconsequence reveals how lesbianism comes to figure as the derivation by which all sexuality is generated.... Jagose's incisive deconstruction, and exquisitely detailed footnotes, are invaluable to learn from—to witness how she does what she does—and make Inconsequence an important tool for any contemporary theorist. -- Peta Mayer * Gender Forum *

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Book SynopsisModern society, Michael Trask argues in this incisive and original book, chose to couch class difference in terms of illicit sexuality. Trask demonstrates how sexual science''s concept of erotic perversion mediated the writing of both literary figures and social theorists when it came to the innovative and unsettling social arrangements of the early twentieth century. Trask focuses on the James brothers in a critique of pragmatism and anti-immigrant sentiment, shows the influence of behavioral psychology on Gertrude Stein''s work, uncovers a sustained reflection on casual labor in Hart Crane''s lyric poetry, and traces the identification of working-class Catholics with deviant passions in Willa Cather''s fiction. Finally, Trask examines how literary leftists borrowed the antiprostitution rhetoric of Progressive-era reformers to protest the ascendance of consumerism in the 1920s.Viewing class as a restless and unstable category, Trask contends, American modernist writers appropriatedTrade ReviewTrask argues that queer studies and Marxist studies should not be marginalized because for major writers of the era neither sexuality nor class was special to a coterie, that to 'belong to mass society is always to enter the sphere of the illicit, the perverse, the dirty'—i.e., 'in mass culture everyone is queer.'... Recommended. Graduate and research collections. * Choice *

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Book SynopsisWhy is it that a text, particularly a canonical text, is often said to contain a meaning different from what it literally says? How did allegorical readings arise and develop? By looking at such examples as Jewish and Christian interpretations of the...Trade Review"Is it possible to understand other cultures or are we always condemned to misunderstand? In this pioneering book that ranges from the biblical Song of Songs to the Confucian Book of Poetry and beyond, Zhang Longxi makes a persuasive case for an allegorical reading, stressing the tension between texts and interpreted meanings. On the basis of this tension he concludes by showing the troubling political connotations of every interpretation." -- Fred Dallmayr, University of Notre Dame"This is a wonderful book. Deeply learned and bracingly pointed in its analyses, Allegoresis is a wide-ranging discussion of allegorical readings that makes a major contribution to comparative literary study and comparative poetics. It will interest many readers engaged in questions of literary theory as well as in biblical studies and comparative studies generally, in addition to becoming a must-read for everyone in the field of Chinese literature and poetics." -- David Damrosch, Columbia University"Zhang Longxi's Allegoresis is a major contribution to the project of moving beyond the usual East/West divide with its predictable polarities. By re-placing the question of allegory in relation to its political, social, and ethical implications, and moving effortlessly between early Christian, classical Chinese, and contemporary theory, Zhang compels his reader into recognizing the profound commonalities and difficult differences between Western and Chinese literary culture. The scope and intelligence of this book are breathtaking, even inspiring." -- David Stern, University of Pennsylvania

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Book SynopsisIn Hiding from History, Meili Steele challenges an assumption at the heart of current debates in political, literary, historical, and cultural theory: that it is impossible to reason through history. Steele believes that two influential schools of...Trade Review"Hiding from History is an excellent book on a very important issue. It concerns the nature of practical reason, how we deliberate about good and bad, right and wrong. Of course, we deliberate as individuals too, but the issue here is how we deliberate in common. Meili Steele addresses the nature of public reason, highlighting the way in which literature can contribute to rational debate, sometimes in ways that philosophical argument cannot match." -- Charles Taylor, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, McGill University"Meili Steele has written a great book, tightly argued, but expansive in scope. He shows how contemporary political thought and action have been handcuffed by the persistent attempt to transcend historical and cultural specificity. His compelling alternative of 'public imagination' avoids multiculturalism's identity fetishism by understanding culture as a process through which selves can reflect upon, reason about, and revise their lives with others." -- John McGowan, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, author of Democracy's Children

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Book SynopsisGlamour is an alluring but elusive concept. We most readily associate it with fashion, industrial design, and Hollywood of the Golden Age, and yet it also shaped the language and interests of high modernism. In Glamour in Six Dimensions, Judith Brown...Trade Review"Glamour in Six Dimensions is a fascinating and unforgettable book about a bewitchingly negative, even deathly, aesthetic. Judith Brown's provocative arguments about glamour's roots in modernist literary form and complicated status as both a sign of the degradation and persistence of aesthetic 'aura,' are sure to recharge the debate about modernist literature's relationship to mass culture. This book is a must-read for anyone working on modernism and twentieth-century aesthetics." -- Sianne Ngai, UCLA"In this very appealing, readable, and erudite book, Judith Brown shows that there is something cruel about glamour, and therefore something cruel about modernism, but she shows too that modernism's cruelty can allow us to appreciate the sensuality of modern culture. Instead of limiting glamour to a pernicious effect of commodification, as it is often understood by Frankfurt School critiques of the culture industry, Glamour in Six Dimensions approaches it as a spur to imagination, feeling, and invention. Brown's elegant readings convince us that glamour is modernism's invention—and its legacy." -- Rebecca L. Walkowitz, Rutgers University"This sophisticated, informed, and visually stunning book makes a significant and original contribution to the New Modernist Studies. Judith Brown's premise that glamour inheres in the very problem of modernist form is entirely original and manages to sustain a line of argument extending from Greta Garbo to Conrad to cellophane. Glamour in Six Dimensions is marked by Brown's sheer innovative genius." -- Jane Garrity, University of Colorado"Weaving her neat hexagonal spiderweb, Judith Brown exhibits scintillating jewels caught in a series of dialectical images. She throws fresh light on canonical modernist writers: Chanel No. 5 next to Wallace Stevens's abstraction and Eliot's impersonality; celebrity photographs in Fitzgerald and Woolf; cigarette publicity for the jazz age; translucent plastic and shimmering cellophane wrapping Larsen, Stein, and Barnes. No longer striving for the great acorn of light or the gemlike flame of an earlier generation, Brown's modernism sparkles and shimmers on flat surfaces like glossy photographic paper. The vanishing aura of modernity still glitters through modernist glamour, now quasi-eternal: glamour toujours!" -- Jean-Michel Rabaté, University of Pennsylvania

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