The rhetoric of realism : American literature and democratic form
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- ABSTRACT The key to American realism lies in the author's construction of a narrator who at first glance may appear reliable and authoritative but who on closer examination is clearly constructed as one voice among many, none of which definitively provide the text with an absolute moral center. Critics have for the past three decades consistently argued, first, that American realism is not a coherent genre and, second, that if it were a genre, it would tend towards endorsing a rather regressive political program. I argue, first, that American realism is a coherent genre if we view it as a distinct form based on various stylistic constructions of anti-authoritative narration. Defining American realism through form and style rather than--as most current scholarship would have it--as a purely historical period will aid us in writing a more accurate history of American literature than we have at present. Second, I argue that American realism is a relatively democratic form. By undermining the narrator's authority, realism works to redistribute authority to multiple character positions, creating a formal polyphony of voices that has its political analog in the ideals of democratic governance. In short, I use concepts of genre, form and style to show how American realism can be made into a rigorous, critically useful term for the purpose of both literary history and literary-political interpretation.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2013 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Hamilton, Geordie |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of English. |
| Primary advisor | Jones, Gavin |
| Thesis advisor | Jones, Gavin |
| Thesis advisor | Rampersad, Arnold |
| Thesis advisor | Woloch, Alex, 1970- |
| Advisor | Rampersad, Arnold |
| Advisor | Woloch, Alex, 1970- |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Geordie Hamilton. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of English. |
| Thesis | Ph.D. Stanford University 2013 |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2013 by George Aran Hamilton
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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