Performativity in Elizabeth Gaskell's shorter fiction : a case study in the uses of theory
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Performativity in Elizabeth Gaskell's shorter fiction : a case study in the uses of theory
（Palgrave pivot）
Palgrave Macmillan, c2019
- : hardback
Available at / 1 libraries
-
No Libraries matched.
- Remove all filters.
Note
Bibliography: p. 71-74
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
This book simultaneously examines the specific theoretical issues raised by Elizabeth Gaskell's use of characterization in her shorter fiction, and addresses the larger question of how literary critics ought to use theory. The text gives a history of Judith Butler's theory of performativity and the uptake of that theory in literary criticism, and also provides detailed close reading of Gaskell's fiction-both frequently examined texts like Cranford, Mary Barton, and Wives and Daughters, and some that are less often studied, such as "Lizzie Leigh" and Cousin Phillis. The book argues that as theory becomes naturalized into the vocabulary of literary scholars, it often becomes more optimistic and less specific. In discussing the naturalization of theory exemplified by the application of performativity to Gaskell, the book advances general principles on the use of theory. It can be read as scholarship or used as a textbook in literary methods courses.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction: The Paradox of Subjectivity and the Naturalization of Theory2. Strict Performativity and the Limits of Resignification in Stories and Novels3. Turning the Glacier: Modernity and Complex Identity in the Novellas4. Conclusion: Principles for the Uses of Theory.
by "Nielsen BookData"
