Nomadic modernisms and diasporic journeys of Djuna Barnes and Jane Bowles : two very serious ladies / by Pavlina Radia.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Radia, Pavlina, author.

Series:

Literary modernism ; 1.

Literary modernism ; 1

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Barnes, Djuna--Criticism and interpretation.

Barnes, Djuna.

Bowles, Jane, 1917-1973--Criticism and interpretation.

Bowles, Jane.

Bowles, Jane, 1917-1973.

Nomads in literature.

Exiles in literature.

Modernism (Literature)--United States.

Modernism (Literature).

Criticism and interpretation.

United States.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

vii, 244 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2016]

Summary:

This book traces the artistic trajectories of Djuna Barnes and Jane Bowles, examining their literary representations of the nomadic ethic pervading the twentieth-century expatriate movements in and out of America. The book argues that these authors contribute to the nomadic aesthetic of American modernism: its pastoral ideographies, (post)colonial ecologies, as well as regional and transcultural varieties. Mapping the pastoral moment in different temporalities and spaces (Barnes representing the 1920s expatriation in Europe while Bowles comments on the 1940s exodus to Mexico and North Africa), this book suggests that Barnes and Bowles counter the critical trend associating American modernity primarily with urban spaces, and instead locate the nomadic thrust of their times in the (post)colonial history of the American frontier. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction: "Mobility, the Quest for the Sublime": Nomadic Modernisms, Aesthetic Travels, and Diasporic Journeys 1

Part 1 Renegade Aesthetics of Djuna Barnes

Introduction to Part 1 31

2 Short Stories and Renegade "Night Woods" 39

3 The Landless Race of Ryder and the Ryder Aesthetes: Mock Almanacs of Experimentation and Intermediality 52

4 "The Pastures in Which the Night Feeds": The Heart Politics and the Music of Holy(Night)Wood 65

5 Metachorie as Decomposition Illustrated: The Dance of Aesthetic Synthesis in Barnes's Journalism, Poetry, and One-Act Plays 81

6 "There's Nothing like Destruction for an Aim": The Antiphon's Theatre of Ideas or State Politics? 103

Part 2 Nomadic Topographies of Jane Bowles

Introduction to Part 2 121

7 Tawdry Nomadographies and Transcultural Frontiers: Two Serious Ladies and the Politics of Nomadism 125

8 Short Stories and the Vendetta of Nomadic Politics 145

9 Theatre of Pastoral Cruelty 171

10 Conclusion: "Two Very Serious Ladles" and Their journeys 200.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Radia, Pavlina, author. Nomadic modernisms and diasporic journeys of Djuna Barnes and Jane Bowles

ISBN:

9789004314429

9004314423

OCLC:

950430645