Upward mobility and the common good : toward a literary history of the welfare state / Bruce Robbins.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Robbins, Bruce.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sex in literature.

Mentoring in literature.

Welfare state in literature.

Fiction--20th century--History and criticism.

Fiction.

Fiction--19th century--History and criticism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (338 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, c2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

We think we know what upward mobility stories are about--virtuous striving justly rewarded, or unprincipled social climbing regrettably unpunished. Either way, these stories seem obviously concerned with the self-making of self-reliant individuals rather than with any collective interest. In Upward Mobility and the Common Good, Bruce Robbins completely overturns these assumptions to expose a hidden tradition of erotic social interdependence at the heart of the literary canon. Reinterpreting novels by figures such as Balzac, Stendhal, Charlotte Brontë, Dickens, Dreiser, Wells, Doctorow, and Ishiguro, along with a number of films, Robbins shows how deeply the material and erotic desires of upwardly mobile characters are intertwined with the aid they receive from some sort of benefactor or mentor. In his view, Hannibal Lecter of The Silence of the Lambs becomes a key figure of social mobility in our time. Robbins argues that passionate and ambiguous relationships (like that between Lecter and Clarice Starling) carry the upward mobility story far from anyone's simple self-interest, whether the protagonist's or the mentor's. Robbins concludes that upward mobility stories have paradoxically helped American and European society make the transition from an ethic of individual responsibility to one of collective accountability, a shift that made the welfare state possible, but that also helps account for society's fascination with cases of sexual abuse and harassment by figures of authority.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

PREFACE. Someone Else'S Life

Introduction. The Fairy Godmother

Chapter One. Erotic Patronage: Rousseau, Constant, Balzac, Stendhal

Chapter Two. How to be a Benefactor Without Any Money

Chapter Three. "It'S Not Your Fault": Therapy and Irresponsibility

Chapter Four. A Portrait of the Artist as a Rentier

Chapter Five. The Health Visitor

Chapter Six. On the Persistence of Anger in the Institutions of Caring

Conclusion. The Luck of Birth and the International Division of Labor

Notes

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [245]-287) and index.

ISBN:

9786612158681

9781282158689

1282158686

9781400827657

1400827655

OCLC:

436084620