The Political Unconscious: Narrative as a Socially Symbolic Act

Fredric Jameson

Published by Cornell University Press 2015

The Political Unconscious

Narrative as a Socially Symbolic Act

Fredric Jameson

https://doi.org/10.7591/9780801471575

Overview
Contents

About this book

A masterly introduction to both the method and the practice of Marxist criticism. Defining a mode of criticism and applying it successfully to individual works, it bridges the gap between theoretical speculation and textual analysis.

Author / Editor information

Fredric Jameson is Professor of French at Yale University. He is author of Marxism and Form; The Prison-House of Language; and Fables of Aggression: Wyndham Lewis, the Modernist as Fascist.

Reviews

Jonathan Culler, Cornell University:

The Political Unconscious is a remarkable work, destined to play an important role in the critical debates of the coming decade. Jameson is now the leading Marxist critic in America, and his book is exemplary not just for those who are interested in Marxist criticism as such but for all who are dissatisfied with formalism and seek alternative modes of argument.

Hayden White, University of California, Santa Cruz:

Fredric Jameson is the best Marxist critic writing today, possibly the best social-historically oriented critic of our time. It seems impossible for him to write anything that is not illuminating in an original way. There is no cant, no cliché, no jargon in his work, only sustained dialectical reflection, His thesis concerning the political content of 'the unconscious' is provocative but theoretically grounded and demonstrated by close readings of texts worthy of the best formalists. No one else encompasses as many positions within a disciplined critical practice. The Political Unconscious is a major work, and it should be read by historians, social scientists, and philosophers, as well as by literary scholars.

Monumental.... Its learning and range of references are exceeded only be the imperial embrace of its complex argument, whose elaboration never imposes a sacrifice of clarity.... Indispensable for all university and college libraries.

A major work of critical theory.... The Political Unconscious integrates and refines a vast body of theoretical work, demonstrating a superb mastery of the field of contemporary criticism. The result... is a compelling, forceful argument in favor of the primacy of Marxism over contending strategies of interpretation.

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Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	1
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	7
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	9
On Interpretation: Literature As A Socially Symbolic Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	17
Magical Narratives: On The Dialectical Use Of Genre Criticism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	103
Realism And Desire: Balzac And The Problem Of The Subject Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	151
Authentic Ressentiment: Generic Discontinuities And Ideologemes In The "Experimental" Novels Of George Gissing Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	185
Romance And Reification: Plot Construction And Ideological Closure In Joseph Conrad Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	206
Conclusion: The Dialectic Of Utopia And Ideology Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	281
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	301

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