Synopsis
When a real murderer accuses the society he has brutalized, we are shocked, but we are thrilled by the same accusations when they are mouthed by a fictional rebel, outlaw or monster. In "Bitter Carnival", Michael Andre Bernstein explores this contradiction and defines a new figure: the abject hero. Standing at the junction of contestation and conformity, the abject hero occupies the logically impossible space created by the intersection of the satanic and the servile. Bernstein shows that we heroicize the abject hero because he represents a convention that has become a staple of our common mythology, as seductive in mass culture as it is in high art. Moving from an examination of classical Latin satire, through analyses of Diderot, Dostoevsky and Celine, and culminating in the courtroom testimony of Charles Manson, "Bitter Carnival" offers a revisionist rereading of the entire tradition of the "Saturnalian dialogue" between masters and slaves, monarchs and fools, philosophers and madmen, citizens and malcontents. It contests the supposedly regenerative power of the carnivalesque and challenges the pieties of utopian radicalism fashionable in contemporary academic thinking.
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Synopsis
When a real murderer accuses the society he has brutalized, we are shocked, but we are thrilled by the same accusations when they are mouthed by a fictional rebel, outlaw or monster. In "Bitter Carnival", Michael Andre Bernstein explores this contradiction and defines a new figure: the abject hero. Standing at the junction of contestation and conformity, the abject hero occupies the logically impossible space created by the intersection of the satanic and the servile. Bernstein shows that we heroicize the abject hero because he represents a convention that has become a staple of our common mythology, as seductive in mass culture as it is in high art. Moving from an examination of classical Latin satire, through analyses of Diderot, Dostoevsky and Celine, and culminating in the courtroom testimony of Charles Manson, "Bitter Carnival" offers a revisionist rereading of the entire tradition of the "Saturnalian dialogue" between masters and slaves, monarchs and fools, philosophers and madmen, citizens and malcontents. It contests the supposedly regenerative power of the carnivalesque and challenges the pieties of utopian radicalism fashionable in contemporary academic thinking.
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Bitter Carnival: Ressentiment and the Abject Hero
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Princeton University Press, 1992
ISBN 10: 0691069395
ISBN 13: 9780691069395
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Bitter Carnival: Ressentiment and the Abject Hero
Published by
Princeton University Press, 1992
ISBN 10: 0691069395
ISBN 13: 9780691069395
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Bitter Carnival: Ressentiment and the Abject Hero
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Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press 1992, 1992
ISBN 10: 0691069395
ISBN 13: 9780691069395
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See photos for the summary and table of contents. /// Cloth binding with dust jacket; hardback, X+243 pp., 8° (16 x 24 cm), dust jacket slightly worn, two corners slightly bumped, rare pencil marking throughout book, condition: very good Book Language/s: English. Seller Inventory # A47306
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Bitter Carnival: Ressentiment and the Abject Hero
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Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1992
ISBN 10: 0691069395
ISBN 13: 9780691069395
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Cloth. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Edition. A nice, solid copy. ; 8vo; 243 pages. Seller Inventory # 339596
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Bitter Carnival: Ressentiment and the Abject Hero
Published by
Princeton University Press, 1992
ISBN 10: 0691069395
ISBN 13: 9780691069395
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Bitter Carnival: Ressentiment and the Abject Hero
Published by
Princeton University Press, 1992
ISBN 10: 0691069395
ISBN 13: 9780691069395
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Bitter Carnival: Ressentiment and the Abject Hero
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Princeton University Press, 1992
ISBN 10: 0691069395
ISBN 13: 9780691069395
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Condition: Good. Please note: below is a general description of how we classify our condition types. If you would like a closer look or have any specific questions, please feel free to send us a message, and we will gladly check it for you. Condition descriptions: UsedlikeNew: Barely any signs of use, almost like new. UsedGood: May show some light signs of use, such as slight discoloration or a name written on the front endpaper, but generally no markings or notes in the text. UsedAcceptable: Book in acceptable condition. May show signs of use, such as some discoloration, reading creases in the spine, underlining, notes, slight dirt on edges, dog-eared pages, or a bent spine. New: Book is new. Z 86-7 200218 EA. Seller Inventory # 9780691069395
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Bitter Carnival. Ressentiment and The Abject Hero
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Princeton University Press., New Jersey, USA., 1992
ISBN 10: 0691069395
ISBN 13: 9780691069395
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Seller: Colophon Books (UK), Leek, STAFF, United Kingdom
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Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. 243 pages inc index, navy blue cloth has a little dust line to top edge under the wrapper, a small neat inscription also just seen under front flap "John J Gibson" who was himself an art lecturer at the Courtauld Institute in London in the 1980's-90's., he has naughtily added 4 small neat margin observation on the text notes, which add insight rather than being detrimental. (the sellers own opinion). Octavo 1992. Near fine to handle and view. Marred by a tiny lack of foresight. *A critical examination of modern literature and its "abject hero". Monsters and malcontents, Manson and mayhem. It examines & questions our emotional identifications as readers. Seller Inventory # A181
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