The romance of failure : first-person fictions of Poe, Hawthorne, and James / Jonathan Auerbach.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Auerbach, Jonathan, 1954- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American fiction--19th century--History and criticism.

American fiction.

Failure (Psychology) in literature.

First person narrative.

Psychological fiction, American--History--Criticism and interpretation.

Psychological fiction, American.

Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849--Fictional works.

Poe, Edgar Allan.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864--Criticism and interpretation.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel.

James, Henry, 1843-1916--Criticism and interpretation.

James, Henry.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (212 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York ; Oxford, [England] : Oxford University Press, 1989.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book focuses on the intense intimacy between author and first-person narrator in the fictions of Poe, Hawthorne, and James in order to defend the beleaguered ""I"" in these works against the depersonalizing tendencies of postructuralism. In reaffirming the importance of the human subject for the study of narrative, Auerbach shows how the first person form, in particular, underscores fundamental problems of literary representation: how fictions come to be made, and the relation between these plots and the people who make them.

Contents:

Contents; Introduction: ""Proper Identity"" and the First Person; 1. Disfiguring the Perfect Plot: Doubling and Self-Betrayal in Poe; 2. Hawthorne's The Blithedale Romance and the Death of Enchantment; 3. The Jamesian Critical Romance; Afterword; Notes; Index; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; P; Q; R; S; T; U; V; W; Y

Notes:

Includes bibliography: p. 177-196 and index.

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-280-52376-X

0-19-534525-8

1-60256-600-3

OCLC:

191038477