The politics of irony in American modernism / Matthew Stratton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stratton, Matthew.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

American literature.

Irony in literature.

Satire--History and criticism.

Satire.

Politics in literature.

Politics and literature--United States--History--20th century.

Politics and literature.

Politics and culture--United States--History--20th century.

Politics and culture.

Literature and society--United States--History--20th century.

Literature and society.

Modernism (Literature)--United States.

Modernism (Literature).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (285 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : Fordham University Press, 2014.

Language Note:

English

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Summary:

"This book shows how American literary culture in the first half of the twentieth century saw "irony'" emerge as a term to describe intersections between aesthetic and political practices. Against conventional associations of irony with political withdrawal, Stratton shows how the term circulated widely in literary and popular culture to describe politically engaged forms of writing. It is a critical commonplace to acknowledge the difficulty of defining irony before stipulating a particular definition as a stable point of departure for literary, cultural, and political analysis. This book, by contrast, is the first to derive definitions of "irony" inductively, showing how writers employed it as a keyword both before and in opposition to the institutionalization of New Criticism. It focuses on writers who not only composed ironic texts but talked about irony and satire to situate their work politically: Randolph Bourne, Benjamin De Casseres, Ellen Glasgow, John Dos Passos, Ralph Ellison, and many others"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note:

Introduction: Irony and How It Got That Way

Chapter 1: The Eye in Irony: New York, Nietzsche, and the 1910s

Chapter 2: Gendering Irony and Its History: Ellen Glasgow and the Lost 1920s

Chapter 3: The Focus of Satire: Irony and Public Opinions of Propaganda in the U.S.A. of John Dos Passos Page

Chapter 4: Visible Decisions : Irony, Law, and the Political Constitution of Ralph Ellison

Beyond Hope and Memory: A Conclusion

Bibliography.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9780823255474

0823255476

9780823261086

0823261085

9780823255481

0823255484

9780823255467

0823255468

OCLC:

859159685