The Literature of Labor: Allegory in Nineteenth-Century American Fiction: 89 (Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture, Series Number 89) - Softcover

Weinstein, Cindy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521054583 ISBN 13: 9780521054584

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2008

Synopsis

The Literature of Labor and the Labors of Literature juxtaposes representations of labour in fictional texts and non-fictional texts in order to trace the intersections between aesthetic and economic discourse in nineteenth-century America. Both allegory and the new forms of labour produced a version of personhood that seemed frighteningly flat, a flatness that attacked the substance of the work ethic and, indeed, the very foundations of American individualism. Using this contextualized model of allegory, Weinstein argues that texts by Hawthorne, Melville, Twain and Adams are best understood both as allegories of labour (that is, the allegorical representations of the nature and cost of being a labouring being) and labours of allegory (that is, the visibility of the author's work of representation). Weinstein revolutionizes the notion of allegorical narrative, which is exposed as a literary medium of greater depth and consequence than has previously been implied - a working authorial vehicle for engaged and at times socially turbulent thought.

About this title

Review:

'More than any critic I can think of, Cindy Weinstein has developed a sustained argument about the historical conditions for allegory ... this bold new theory of allegory puts Cindy Weinstein at the forefront of a new generation of Americanists.' Wai-Chee Dimock, Brandeis University

Book Description:

This book juxtaposes representations of labour in fictional and non-fictional texts in order to trace the intersections between aesthetic and economic discourse in nineteenth-century America. This intersection is particularly evident in the debates about symbol and allegory, and Cindy Weinstein contends that allegory during this period was critiqued on precisely the same grounds as mechanized labour.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0521054583
• ISBN 13: 9780521054584
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 284