Brown, Nicholas.
Utopian Generations : The Political Horizon of Twentieth-Century Literature. - 1 online resource (214 pages) - Translation/Transnation Ser. ; v.20 . - Translation/Transnation Ser. .
Intro -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Chapter One Introduction -- Part One Subjectivity -- Chapter Two Ulysses: The Modernist Sublime -- Chapter Three Ambiguous Adventure: Authenticity's Aftermath -- Part Two History -- Chapter Four The Good Soldier and Parade's End: Absolute Nostalgia -- Chapter Five Arrow of God: The Totalizing Gaze -- Part Three Politics -- Chapter Six The Childermass: Revolution and Reaction -- Chapter Seven Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Pepetela: Revolution and Retrenchment -- Chapter Eight Conclusion: Postmodernism as Semiperipheral Symptom -- Notes.
Utopian Generations develops a powerful interpretive matrix for understanding world literature--one that renders modernism and postcolonial African literature comprehensible in a single framework, within which neither will ever look the same. African literature has commonly been seen as representationally naïve vis-à-vis modernism, and canonical modernism as reactionary vis-à-vis postcolonial literature. What brings these two bodies of work together, argues Nicholas Brown, is their disposition toward Utopia or "the horizon of a radical reconfiguration of social relations." Grounded in a profound rethinking of the Hegelian Marxist tradition, this fluently written book takes as its point of departure the partial displacement during the twentieth century of capitalism's "internal limit" (classically conceived as the conflict between labor and capital) onto a geographic division of labor and wealth. Dispensing with whole genres of commonplace contemporary pieties, Brown examines works from both sides of this division to create a dialectical mapping of different modes of Utopian aesthetic practice. The theory of world literature developed in the introduction grounds the subtle and powerful readings at the heart of the book--focusing on works by James Joyce, Cheikh Hamidou Kane, Ford Madox Ford, Chinua Achebe, Wyndham Lewis, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, and Pepetela. A final chapter, arguing that this literary dialectic has reached a point of exhaustion, suggests that a radically reconceived notion of musical practice may be required to discern the Utopian desire immanent in the products of contemporary culture.
9781400826834
African literature -- 20th century -- History and criticism.
Comparative literature -- African and English.
Comparative literature -- English and African.
English literature -- 20th century -- History and criticism.
Modernism (Literature) -- Great Britain.
Politics and literature -- Africa -- History -- 20th century.
Politics and literature -- Great Britain -- History -- 20th century.
Electronic books.
PR478.P64B76 2005
820.9358
Utopian Generations : The Political Horizon of Twentieth-Century Literature. - 1 online resource (214 pages) - Translation/Transnation Ser. ; v.20 . - Translation/Transnation Ser. .
Intro -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Chapter One Introduction -- Part One Subjectivity -- Chapter Two Ulysses: The Modernist Sublime -- Chapter Three Ambiguous Adventure: Authenticity's Aftermath -- Part Two History -- Chapter Four The Good Soldier and Parade's End: Absolute Nostalgia -- Chapter Five Arrow of God: The Totalizing Gaze -- Part Three Politics -- Chapter Six The Childermass: Revolution and Reaction -- Chapter Seven Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Pepetela: Revolution and Retrenchment -- Chapter Eight Conclusion: Postmodernism as Semiperipheral Symptom -- Notes.
Utopian Generations develops a powerful interpretive matrix for understanding world literature--one that renders modernism and postcolonial African literature comprehensible in a single framework, within which neither will ever look the same. African literature has commonly been seen as representationally naïve vis-à-vis modernism, and canonical modernism as reactionary vis-à-vis postcolonial literature. What brings these two bodies of work together, argues Nicholas Brown, is their disposition toward Utopia or "the horizon of a radical reconfiguration of social relations." Grounded in a profound rethinking of the Hegelian Marxist tradition, this fluently written book takes as its point of departure the partial displacement during the twentieth century of capitalism's "internal limit" (classically conceived as the conflict between labor and capital) onto a geographic division of labor and wealth. Dispensing with whole genres of commonplace contemporary pieties, Brown examines works from both sides of this division to create a dialectical mapping of different modes of Utopian aesthetic practice. The theory of world literature developed in the introduction grounds the subtle and powerful readings at the heart of the book--focusing on works by James Joyce, Cheikh Hamidou Kane, Ford Madox Ford, Chinua Achebe, Wyndham Lewis, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, and Pepetela. A final chapter, arguing that this literary dialectic has reached a point of exhaustion, suggests that a radically reconceived notion of musical practice may be required to discern the Utopian desire immanent in the products of contemporary culture.
9781400826834
African literature -- 20th century -- History and criticism.
Comparative literature -- African and English.
Comparative literature -- English and African.
English literature -- 20th century -- History and criticism.
Modernism (Literature) -- Great Britain.
Politics and literature -- Africa -- History -- 20th century.
Politics and literature -- Great Britain -- History -- 20th century.
Electronic books.
PR478.P64B76 2005
820.9358