Rethinking race, politics, and poetics : C.L.R. James' critique of modernity / Brett St. Louis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

St. Louis, Brett.

Series:

Routledge studies in cultural history ; 7.

Routledge studies in cultural history ; 7

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

James, C. L. R. (Cyril Lionel Robert), 1901-1989--Criticism and interpretation.

James, C. L. R.

James, C. L. R. (Cyril Lionel Robert), 1901-1989--Political and social views.

James, C. L. R. (Cyril Lionel Robert), 1901-1989.

Modernism (Literature).

Political and social views.

Criticism and interpretation.

Physical Description:

x, 248 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : Routledge, 2007.

Summary:

Rethinking Race, Politics, and Poetics offers a critical appraisal of C. L. R. James as a major 20th century activist-intellectual, exploring his prolific output spanning decades within genres as diverse as history, philosophy, sociology, literary and cultural criticism, prose fiction, and reportage. The book also analyzes some of the flaws and contradictions that surfaced within James writings as a consequence of the difficult circumstances in which he worked and lived as an itinerant migrant intellectual invariably involved with fringe political groups. Assessing James as a lifelong committed Marxist and humanist, the book argues that his core concern with racial, political and cultural questions as central to human and social understanding led him to develop a distinctive critique of the modern world.

Contents:

Introduction: Modern Epiphanies: C. L. R. James and the Reimagining of Modernity 1

1 "They Brought Themselves": Modernity and the Emergence of the Black Jacobins 13

2 "Elective Affinities" and the Intellectual Vocation: Race, Politics, and Poetics 45

3 The Perilous "Pleasures of Exile": Bad Faith, Failed Gods, and the Diasporic Life 83

4 Mapping Spontaneity: The Organic Unity of Self-Activity and Radical Struggles 121

5 "Freedom is Creative Universality, Not Utility": Sociality and the Cultural Politics of Cricket 159

Epilogue: "The Struggle for Happiness": From Epiphany to Poiesis 193.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [209]-239) and index.

ISBN:

9780415957724

0415957729

OCLC:

124031772