Theorising Textual Subjects: Agency and Oppression

ISBN-13: 9780521576796 / Angielski / Miękka / 1997 / 234 str.

Meili Steele

Opis

This book addresses the central crisis in critical theory today: the attempts to theorize the subject as both a construct of discourse and a dialogical agent. In Theorising Textual Subjects, Meili Steele argues that it is possible to understand the postmodern subject as an active political agent. Steele argues that some of the most influential theories of agency fail to account for the ethical implications of the supposed contingency of all contexts. Through wide reference to leading political, philosophical and critical thinkers, this book maps new ways of confronting the problem of how politics and ethics are deployed in imaginative narratives.

Recenzje

"...[Steele]...enters fruitfully into a dialogue that has remained static for too long. Theorizing Textual Subject is consequently essential reading for anyone interested in critical thought. ...Steele's ability to formulate and then critique contemporary critical problems makes for a provocative and admirable study." Priscilla Walton, American Literature

Spis treści

Introduction; 1. Stories of oppression and appeals to freedom; 2. Language, ethics, and subjectivity in the liberal/communitarian debate; 3. Theorising narratives of agency and subjection; 4. Truth, beauty, and goodness in James's The Ambassadors; 5. The subject of democracy in the work of Ralph Ellison; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.