The Novel & the Globalization of Culture

ISBN-13: 9780195089523 / Angielski / Miękka / 1995 / 272 str.

Michael Valde Moses

Opis

Bringing together canonical European authors with authors from the Third World, this book analyzes the emergence of the modern global novel, and the way it mirrors the underlying process of cultural globalization. Through detailed readings of Stendhal, Hardy, Conrad, Achebe, and Vargas Llosa, this study reveals how the spread of Western modernity--materially and culturally--has been shadowed by the destruction of traditional societies. These novels focus on the individual tragedies of those who represent pre-modern ways of life; in the process, offering a corrective to Hegel's abstruse philosophy of history. From rural Victorian England to the Malay Archipelago, and from the Igbo heartland in Africa to the backlands of Brazil, a global narrative unfolds, one where the forces of modernization clash with the defenders of traditional society. Moses contributes to the ongoing debate on Alexandre Kojeve and the "end of history," while, at the same time, moving beyond sterile oppositions--canonical versus non-canonical works, formal literary criticism versus political/historical critique. With its new conceptualization of modernity and globalization, this book will interest the literary scholar, cultural critic, social scientist, and political theorist.

Recenzje

As fascinating as the individual chapters are, in this case the whole is much greater than the sum of the parts....At the deepest level, the book transcends the limits of literary criticism, and makes a substantial contribution to contemporary debates over the end of history and the global spread of modern Western culture. This is without question one of the most interesting and important books to grow out of the contemporary movement to expand the literary canon and to view European culture within a larger global context.