The Cambridge Companion to the Twentieth-Century American Novel and Politics
The Cambridge Companion to the Twentieth-Century American Novel and Politics
Surveying the relationship between American politics and the twentieth-century novel, this volume analyzes how political movements, ideas, and events shaped the American novel. It also shows how those political phenomena were shaped in turn by long-form prose fiction. The book is made up of three major sections. The first section considers philosophical ideologies and broad political movements that were both politically and literarily significant in the twentieth-century United States, including progressive liberalism, conservatism, socialism and communism, feminism, and Black liberation movements. The second section analyzes the evolving political valences of key popular genres and literary forms in the twentieth-century American novel, focusing on crime fiction, science fiction, postmodern metafiction and immigrant fiction. The third section examines ten diverse politically-minded novels that serve as exemplary case studies across the century. Combining detailed literary analysis with innovative political theory, this Companion provides a groundbreaking study of the politics of twentieth-century American fiction.
- Provides the first comprehensive survey of the relationship between American politics and the twentieth-century novel
- Displays the range of popular literary genres in which political discourse manifested in the twentieth century, showing readers how literary criticism can illuminate both political theory and political history
- Shows how literary studies can be combined with political theory
Product details
October 2023Paperback
9781009015660
350 pages
228 × 152 × 24 mm
0.61kg
Available
Table of Contents
- Introduction Bryan M. Santin
- Part I. Ideologies and Movements:
- 1. Progressive liberalism Johannes Voelz
- 2. Conservatism Stephen Schryer
- 3. Neoliberalism Mitchum Huehls
- 4. Socialism and communism Mark W. Van Wienen
- 5. Feminisms Jean Lutes
- 6. Sexual liberation movements Guy Davidson
- 7. Black liberation movements Sheena Michele Mason and Dana A. Williams
- Part II. The Politics of Genre and Form:
- 8. Crime Fiction Andrew Pepper
- 9. Science fiction Jason Haslam
- 10. Western Fiction Stephen J. Mexal
- 11. Literary Realist Fiction Matthew Shipe
- 12. Immigrant Fiction Heather Hathaway
- 13. Gothic horror fiction Kevin Corstorphine
- 14. Postmodern metafiction Rob Turner
- Part III. Case Studies:
- 15. Herland (1915): Charlotte Perkins Gilman Cynthia J. Davis
- 16. It Can't Happen Here (1935): Sinclair Lewis Christopher Vials
- 17. All the King's Men (1946): Robert Penn Warren Jonathan S. Cullick
- 18. Invisible Man (1952): Ralph Ellison Nathaniel Mills
- 19. The Left Hand of Darkness (1969): Ursula K. Le Guin Tony Burns
- 20. If Beale Street Could Talk (1974): James Baldwin Douglas Field
- 21. The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975): Edward Abbey Christopher K. Coffman
- 22. Ceremony (1977): Leslie Marmon Silko Sandra M. Gustafson
- 23. Parable Series (1993, 1998): Octavia E. Butler Claire P. Curtis
- 24. The Underground Railroad (2016): Colson Whitehead Bryan M. Santin.
