Strange gourmets : sophistication, theory, and the novel / Joseph Litvak.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Litvak, Joseph.

Series:

Series Q.

Series Q

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Fiction--History and criticism--Theory, etc.

Fiction.

Rhetoric.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (197 p.)

Place of Publication:

Durham : Duke University Press, 1997.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"Theoretically sophisticated: How often has this term been used to distinguish a work of contemporary criticism, and what, exactly, does it mean? In Strange Gourmets, Joseph Litvak reclaims sophistication from its negative connotations and turns the spotlight on those who, even as they demonize sophistication, surreptitiously and extensively use it." "Though commonly thought of as a kind of wordliness as its best and an elitist snobbery at its worst, sophistication, Litvak reminds us, remains tied to its earlier, if forgotten, meaning of "perversion" - a perversion whose avatars are the homosexual and the intellectual. Proceeding with his investigations from a specifically gay academic perspective, Litvak presents thoroughly inventive readings of novels by Austen, Thackeray, and Proust, and of theoretical works by Adorno and Barthes, each text epitomizing sophistication in one of its more familiar modes. Among the issues he explores are the ways in which these texts teach sophistication, the embarrassment that sophistication causes the sophisticated, and how the class politics of sophistication are inseparable from its sexual politics."--BOOK JACKET.

Contents:

Delicacy and disgust, mourning and melancholia, privilege and perversity: Pride and prejudice

Bon chic, bon genre: sophistication and history in Northanger Abbey

Kiss me, stupid: sophistication and snobbery in Vanity fair

Taste, waste, Proust

Expensive tastes: Adorno, Barthes, and cultural studies.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (pages [171]-175) and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780822320166

0822320169

9780822398233

0822398230

OCLC:

887802819