American Literary Misfits

Author : D. Berton Emerson
Publisher : UNC Press Books
Page : 171 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2024-03-25
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781469678412

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American Literary Misfits by D. Berton Emerson Pdf

The study of nineteenth-century American literature has long been tied up with the study of American democracy. Just as some regions in the United States are elevated to stand in for the whole nation—New England is a good example—D. Berton Emerson argues the same is true for American literature of the nineteenth century; a few canonical texts overrepresent the more motley history of American letters. Emerson examines an eclectic group of literary texts that have rarely, if ever, been considered representative of "the nation" because of their unseemly characters or plots, divergence from dominant literary trends of the era, or local particularity. These are his "literary misfits," authors and texts that show different forms of egalitarianism in action that existed outside and even against the dominant liberal narratives of American democracy. Emerson's unique contribution is revealing these texts and the people they represent as rich with political knowledge. This knowledge, he argues, finds its most potent expression in the local. Such texts show us a different kind of democratic politics: one that is egalitarian, disorderly, and radical rather than homogeneous.

Author : D. Berton Emerson
Publisher : UNC Press Books
Page : 251 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2024-04-02
Category : History
ISBN : 9798890887184

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American Literary Misfits by D. Berton Emerson Pdf

The study of nineteenth-century American literature has long been tied up with the study of American democracy. Just as some regions in the United States are elevated to stand in for the whole nation—New England is a good example—D. Berton Emerson argues the same is true for American literature of the nineteenth century; a few canonical texts overrepresent the more motley history of American letters. Emerson examines an eclectic group of literary texts that have rarely, if ever, been considered representative of "the nation" because of their unseemly characters or plots, divergence from dominant literary trends of the era, or local particularity. These are his "literary misfits," authors and texts that show different forms of egalitarianism in action that existed outside and even against the dominant liberal narratives of American democracy. Emerson's unique contribution is revealing these texts and the people they represent as rich with political knowledge. This knowledge, he argues, finds its most potent expression in the local. Such texts show us a different kind of democratic politics: one that is egalitarian, disorderly, and radical rather than homogeneous.

Author : Robert Wuthnow
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2020-08-04
Category : History
ISBN : 9780691210711

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American Misfits and the Making of Middle-Class Respectability by Robert Wuthnow Pdf

How American respectability has been built by maligning those who don't make the grade How did Americans come to think of themselves as respectable members of the middle class? Was it just by earning a decent living? Or did it require something more? And if it did, what can we learn that may still apply? The quest for middle-class respectability in nineteenth-century America is usually described as a process of inculcating positive values such as honesty, hard work, independence, and cultural refinement. But clergy, educators, and community leaders also defined respectability negatively, by maligning individuals and groups—“misfits”—who deviated from accepted norms. Robert Wuthnow argues that respectability is constructed by “othering” people who do not fit into easily recognizable, socially approved categories. He demonstrates this through an in-depth examination of a wide variety of individuals and groups that became objects of derision. We meet a disabled Civil War veteran who worked as a huckster on the edges of the frontier, the wife of a lunatic who raised her family while her husband was institutionalized, an immigrant religious community accused of sedition, and a wealthy scion charged with profiteering. Unlike respected Americans who marched confidently toward worldly and heavenly success, such misfits were usually ignored in paeans about the nation. But they played an important part in the cultural work that made America, and their story is essential for understanding the “othering” that remains so much a part of American culture and politics today.

Author : Octavio R. González
Publisher : Penn State Press
Page : 133 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2021-05-07
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780271087375

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Misfit Modernism by Octavio R. González Pdf

In this book, Octavio R. González revisits the theme of alienation in the twentieth-century novel, identifying an alternative aesthetic centered on the experience of double exile, or marginalization from both majority and home culture. This misfit modernist aesthetic decenters the mainstream narrative of modernism—which explores alienation from a universal and existential perspective—by showing how a group of authors leveraged modernist narrative to explore minoritarian experiences of cultural nonbelonging. Tying the biography of a particular author to a close reading of one of that author’s major works, González considers in turn Nella Larsen’s Quicksand, Wallace Thurman’s The Blacker the Berry, Jean Rhys’s Quartet, and Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man. Each of these novels explores conditions of maladjustment within one of three burgeoning cultural movements that sought representation in the greater public sphere: the New Negro movement during the Harlem Renaissance, the 1920s Paris expatriate scene, and the queer expatriate scene in Los Angeles before Stonewall. Using a methodological approach that resists institutional taxonomies of knowledge, González shows that this double exile speaks profoundly through largely autobiographical narratives and that the novels’ protagonists challenge the compromises made by these minoritarian groups out of an urge to assimilate into dominant social norms and values. Original and innovative, Misfit Modernism is a vital contribution to conversations about modernism in the contexts of sexual identity, nationality, and race. Moving beyond the debates over the intellectual legacies of intersectionality and queer theory, González shows us new ways to think about exclusion.

Author : S. K. Ali
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 336 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2017-06-13
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN : 9781481499248

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Saints and Misfits by S. K. Ali Pdf

Fifteen-year-old Janna Yusuf, a Flannery O'Connor-obsessed book nerd and the daughter of the only divorced mother at their mosque, tries to make sense of the events that follow when her best friend's cousin--a holy star in the Muslim community--attempts to assault her at the end of sophomore year.

Author : John D. Kerkering
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 405 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2024-06-30
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781108841894

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

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.

Author : S. K. Ali
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 336 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2022-05-03
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN : 9781534442764

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Misfit in Love by S. K. Ali Pdf

"Janna Yusuf and her friends are planning for her brother's nikah. But what started as a simple marriage ceremony is turning into the biggest event of the summer-and a chance for Janna to finally reveal her crush...or so she thinks"--

Author : Elizabeth Lay Green
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 108 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 1928
Category : African American authors
ISBN : STANFORD:36105118267959

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The Negro in Contemporary American Literature by Elizabeth Lay Green Pdf

Author : Roanne Kantor
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 245 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2022-02-24
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781316510797

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South Asian Writers, Latin American Literature, and the Rise of Global English by Roanne Kantor Pdf

South Asian writers reference Latin American literature to identify against the Anglophone globe, even as they circulate within it.

Author : Susan C. W. Abbotson
Publisher : Infobase Publishing
Page : 529 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2007
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781438108384

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Critical Companion to Arthur Miller by Susan C. W. Abbotson Pdf

Arthur Miller, best known for his works The Crucible and Death of a Salesman, is one of America's most important dramatists.

Author : Josef Benson,Doug Singsen
Publisher : Univ. Press of Mississippi
Page : 298 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2022-03-08
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781496838377

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Bandits, Misfits, and Superheroes by Josef Benson,Doug Singsen Pdf

American comics from the start have reflected the white supremacist culture out of which they arose. Superheroes and comic books in general are products of whiteness, and both signal and hide its presence. Even when comics creators and publishers sought to advance an antiracist agenda, their attempts were often undermined by a lack of awareness of their own whiteness and the ideological baggage that goes along with it. Even the most celebrated figures of the industry, such as Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Jack Jackson, William Gaines, Stan Lee, Robert Crumb, Will Eisner, and Frank Miller, have not been able to distance themselves from the problematic racism embedded in their narratives despite their intentions or explanations. Bandits, Misfits, and Superheroes: Whiteness and Its Borderlands in American Comics and Graphic Novels provides a sober assessment of these creators and their role in perpetuating racism throughout the history of comics. Josef Benson and Doug Singsen identify how whiteness has been defined, transformed, and occasionally undermined over the course of eighty years in comics and in many genres, including westerns, horror, crime, funny animal, underground comix, autobiography, literary fiction, and historical fiction. This exciting and groundbreaking book assesses industry giants, highlights some of the most important episodes in American comic book history, and demonstrates how they relate to one another and form a larger pattern, in unexpected and surprising ways.

Author : Carrie Tirado Bramen
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 381 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2017-08-14
Category : History
ISBN : 9780674976498

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American Niceness by Carrie Tirado Bramen Pdf

Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Epigraphs -- Contents -- Introduction: American Niceness and the Democratic Personality -- 1. Indian Giving and the Dangers of Hospitality -- 2. Southern Niceness and the Slave's Smile -- 3. The Christology of Niceness -- 4. Feminine Niceness -- 5. The Likable Empire from Plymouth Rock to the Philippines -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- Index

Author : Carlos Riobó
Publisher : Bucknell University Press
Page : 233 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2010-12-29
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781611480375

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Sub-versions of the Archive by Carlos Riobó Pdf

Sub-Versions of the Archive: Manuel Puig's and Severo Sarduy's Alternative Identities analyzes recent theories of the archive to examine how Manuel Puig and Severo Sarduy reformulate the Latin American literary tradition. This study focuses on eclectic theories of the archive as both repository and danger, drawing from an array of sources both within and outside the Hispanic literary tradition: from Borges, Foucault, Arrom, Derrida, Gonz_lez Echevarr'a, and Guillory to digital media and biotechnology. This book also applies theories of cultural contamination (Maria Lugones) and symbolic capital (Pierre Bourdieu) to the novels of Puig and Sarduy to explore the representation of marginal cultures within a body of literature that previously altered or elided these subaltern cultures from the tradition. Through close readings and critical theoretical applications, this book demonstrates how archival fiction continues to be one of the most popular strategies among Latin American novelists and, most importantly, how they have successfully managed to find new ways to inscribe their alternative fictions within this tradition. Puig's and Sarduy's novels reproduce discourses-popular culture and the mass media-that lack prestige within the traditional archive. These discourses mirror realities of marginal groups-gay people, children, the poor, the illiterate, women, and racial minorities. Their cultural variants, sub-versions of hegemonic masterstories, are endowed with truth-bearing power for them, but were previously left out of the archive as legitimate novelistic models. To date, this is the only study of contemporary Latin American fiction that puts current theories of the archive-especially that of Roberto Gonz_lez Echevarr'a-to practice in such a systematic way. Riob-'s analysis of how Puig and Sarduy reformulate the Latin American canon is both a necessary complement of Gonz_lez Echevarr'a's work and an intelligent answer to the first of his projected masterstories. Riob-'s multidisciplinary approach offers a deep understanding and analysis of both the archive and of some of the Spanish language's most innovative and complex fiction.

Author : Phuc Tran
Publisher : Flatiron Books
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2020-04-21
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781250194725

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Sigh, Gone by Phuc Tran Pdf

For anyone who has ever felt like they don't belong, Sigh, Gone shares an irreverent, funny, and moving tale of displacement and assimilation woven together with poignant themes from beloved works of classic literature. In 1975, during the fall of Saigon, Phuc Tran immigrates to America along with his family. By sheer chance they land in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, a small town where the Trans struggle to assimilate into their new life. In this coming-of-age memoir told through the themes of great books such as The Metamorphosis, The Scarlet Letter, The Iliad, and more, Tran navigates the push and pull of finding and accepting himself despite the challenges of immigration, feelings of isolation, and teenage rebellion, all while attempting to meet the rigid expectations set by his immigrant parents. Appealing to fans of coming-of-age memoirs such as Fresh Off the Boat, Running with Scissors, or tales of assimilation like Viet Thanh Nguyen's The Displaced and The Refugees, Sigh, Gone explores one man’s bewildering experiences of abuse, racism, and tragedy and reveals redemption and connection in books and punk rock. Against the hairspray-and-synthesizer backdrop of the ‘80s, he finds solace and kinship in the wisdom of classic literature, and in the subculture of punk rock, he finds affirmation and echoes of his disaffection. In his journey for self-discovery Tran ultimately finds refuge and inspiration in the art that shapes—and ultimately saves—him.

Author : Sean Kicummah Teuton
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 173 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 2018
Category : Literary Collections
ISBN : 9780199944521

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Native American Literature by Sean Kicummah Teuton Pdf

Along the way readers encounter the diversity of Indigenous peoples who, owing to their differing lands, livelihoods, and customs, evolved literatures adapted to a nation's specific needs. While, in the nineteenth century, public lecture and journalism fortified eastern Indigenous writers against removal west, nearly a century later autobiography enabled western Indigenous authors to tell their side of the winning of the west. Throughout he treats Indigenous literature with such complexity. He describes the single-handed invention of a written Indigenous language, the first Indigenous language newspaper, and the literary occupation of Alcatraz Island. Returning to contemporary poetry, drama, and novel by authors such as D'Arcy McNickle, Leslie Silko, Sherman Alexie, Louise Erdrich, Craig Womack, Teuton demonstrates that, like Indigenous people, Indigenous literature survives because it adapts, honoring the past yet reaching for the future.