Ethnicity and cultural authority : from Arnold to Du Bois
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Ethnicity and cultural authority : from Arnold to Du Bois
(Edinburgh studies in transatlantic literatures / series editors, Susan Manning and Andrew Taylor)
Edinburgh University Press, c2006
- : hardback
Available at 4 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Bibliography: p. 229-255
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Longlisted for the Wales Book of the Year 2007 Writing in 1903, W. E. B. Du Bois suggested that the goal for the African-American was 'to be a co-worker in the kingdom of culture'. He was evoking 'culture' as a solution to the divisions within society, thereby adopting, in a very different context, an idea that had been influentially expressed by Matthew Arnold in the 1860s. Du Bois questioned the assumed universality of this concept by asking who, ultimately, is allowed into the 'kingdom of culture'? How does one come to speak from a position of cultural authority? This book adopts a transatlantic approach to explore these questions. It centres on four Victorian 'men of letters' -- Matthew Arnold, William Dean Howells, W. B. Yeats and W. E. B. Du Bois -- who drew on notions of ethnicity as a basis from which to assert their cultural authority. In comparative close readings of these figures Daniel Williams addresses several key areas of contemporary literary and cultural debate.
The book questions the notion of 'the West' as it appears and re-appears in the formulations of postcolonial theory, challenges the widespread tendency to divide nationalism into 'civic' and 'ethnic' forms, and forces its readers to reconsider what they mean when they talk about 'culture', 'identity' and 'national literature'. Key Features *Offers a substantial, innovative intervention in transatlantic debates over race and ethnicity *Uses 4 intriguing authors to explore issues of national identity, racial purity and the use of literature as a marker of 'cultural capital' *A unique focus on Celtic identity in a transatlantic context *Sets up a dialogue between writers who believe in national identity and those who believe in cultural distinctiveness
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- 1. Matthew Arnold: Culture and Ethnicity
- 2. William Dean Howells: Realism, Ethnicity and the Nation
- 3. W. B. Yeats: Celticism, Aestheticism and Nationalism
- 4. W. E. B. Du Bois: Black Folk in the 'Kingdom of Culture'
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index.
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