The Politics of Style

Towards a Marxist Poetics
Erscheinungsjahr 2016
ISBN: 978-90-04-28761-7
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 132, 280 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 244 mm, Gewicht: 539 g

Reihe: Historical Materialism Book Series

This book develops a Marxist theory of literary style. The first part explains why Raymond Williams, Terry Eagleton and Fredric Jameson came to see style as central to political criticism. It delineates the historical and conceptual preconditions for the emergence of a ‘politics of style’, and uncovers an underground current of stylistics within the Marxist tradition from Marx to Barthes. The second part sets out precisely what each thinker has written on style and demonstrates how this came to figure in their overall intellectual and political projects, focusing above all on a detailed reconstruction of Williams’s best-known concept, the ‘structure of feeling’. Finally, the third part sets out an independent theory of style and makes an ambitious attempt to establish it as a foundational element of a new Marxist poetics.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hartley, Daniel

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Ideologien Marxismus, Kommunismus
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturtheorie: Poetik und Literaturästhetik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements
Introduction

PART I: MARXIST POETICS IN CONTEXT

1. Why Marxism And Style?
1.1. The Concept Of Style
1.2. Epochal Political Conjuncture: Western Marxism And Beyond
1.3. Intellectual Context: The British Anomaly
1.4. Internal Debates: Types Of Marxist Criticism

2. From State Censorship To The Poetry Of The Future: Style In The Marxist Tradition
2.1. An Overview Of Marx’s Early Writings
2.2. Style In Aristotle’s Rhetoric
2.3. The Young Marx On Style And Censorship
2.4. Marx After Buffon And Fichte
2.5. Style And The Philosophy Of History
2.6. The End Of Style?

3. Mimesis From Plato To Ricoeur
3.1. Mimesis In Plato And Aristotle
3.2. On The Threefold Mimesis
3.3. Historicizing The Threefold Mimesis
Conclusion

PART II: THEORIES OF STYLE IN WILLIAMS, EAGLETON AND JAMESON

Overture: Patricide; Or, Reformism Versus Revolution
Eagleton Contra Williams
Williams Strikes Back

4. Style In Prose Fiction: A Preliminary Definition
4.1. Style As A Social Relationship
4.2. Narratology, Voice And Style
4.3. A First Definition Of Style In Prose Fiction
4.4. Possible Elaborations

5. Raymond Williams: Style Between Immanence And Naturalism
5.1. On Williams And Immanence
5.2. Williams’s Multiple Approaches To The Problem Of Style
Conclusion

Intermezzo: Style And The Meaning Of ‘Politics’ And ‘Culture’
Eagleton Contra Jameson
Jameson’s Reply

6. Terry Eagleton: The Political Theology Of Style
6.1. The Body As Language
6.2. Leavis 2.0?
6.3. The Close Reading Of Styles
6.4. The Problems Of Stylistic Ideals
6.5. Tragic Styles

7. Fredric Jameson: Epic Poet Of Postmodernity 176
7.1. Narrative And Praxis
7.2. Jameson As Epic Poet Of Postmodernity
7.3. Jameson, The Epic Contemplator?
7.4. Style And Modernity
7.5. Postmodernity And The End Of Style
7.6. Jameson’s Theory Of Style: A Balance-Sheet

Coda: New Styles For New Social Relations

PART III: STYLE IN MARXIST POETICS

8. A General Marxist Theory Of Style
8.1. Mimesis1
8.2. Mimesis2
8.3. Mimesis3
8.4. Poiesis And Praxis

Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Daniel Hartley (Ph.D., 2014) studied at the University of Cardiff, the Universiteit van Amsterdam, and Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen. He is currently Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies at the University of Leeds. He has published widely on Marxist theory and contemporary literature.