Anti-Nazi modernism : the challenges of resistance in 1930s fiction / Mia Spiro.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Spiro, Mia.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Woolf, Virginia, 1882-1941--Criticism and interpretation.

Woolf, Virginia.

Barnes, Djuna--Criticism and interpretation.

Barnes, Djuna.

Isherwood, Christopher, 1904-1986--Criticism and interpretation.

Isherwood, Christopher.

Isherwood, Christopher, 1904-1986.

Woolf, Virginia, 1882-1941.

American fiction--20th century--History and criticism.

American fiction.

English fiction--20th century--History and criticism.

English fiction.

Modernism (Literature)--History and criticism.

Modernism (Literature).

Anti-Nazi movement in literature.

Criticism and interpretation.

Physical Description:

xi, 308 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Evanston, Ill. : Northwestern University Press, 2013.

Summary:

In Anti-Nazi Modernism, Mia Spiro analyzes the antifascist, and particularly anti-Nazi, narrative methods used by key British and American fiction writers in the 1930s. The Author examines how novels by Djuna Barnes, Christopher Isherwood, and Virginia Woolf challenge the spectacle of Nazism and the illusion of harmony and unity the Nazis promoted in film, mass-media propaganda, and rallies. Although these novels warn against Nazism's suppression of individuality, Spiro illustrates how historical and cultural contexts complicate the works. As the author's focus on the portrayal of Nazism's victims reveals, these critiques of Nazi ideology often reinforce the stereotypes and oppressive discourses they aim to attack, particularly the stereotypes of the Modern Woman, the homosexual, and the Jew. Spiro's original reading of these works offers new insight into the sexual and racial politics that were widespread in Europe and the United States in the years leading up to World War II. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction

Spectacular Nazism and subversive performances

Vamps, tramps, and Nazis: representations of spectacular female characters

Seeing Jewish or seeing "the Jew"? the spectral Jewish other

Eventually we're all queer: fascism, Nazism, and homosexuality

Conclusion: can fiction make a difference? Writing and reading resistance.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 279-296) and index.

ISBN:

9780810128637

0810128632

OCLC:

781680909