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The Power of Negative Thinking: Cynicism and the History of Modern American Literature
Benjamin Schreier
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Description for The Power of Negative Thinking: Cynicism and the History of Modern American Literature
hardcover. In his readings of "The Professor's House", "The Great Gatsby", and "Miss Lonelyhearts", the author finds that, far from the simple selfishness or apathy for which it is so often dismissed, the cynicism in these texts is suffused by a desire for the certainty promised by norms such as national teleology, ethnic identity, and civic participation. Series: American Literatures Initiative. Num Pages: 240 pages. BIC Classification: 1KBB; 2AB; DSBH. Category: (UF) Further/Higher Education. Dimension: 229 x 152 x 25. Weight in Grams: 499.
Benjamin Schreier is suspicious of a simple equation of cynicism with quietism, nihilism, selfishness, or false consciousness, and he rejects the notion that modern cynicism represents something categorically different from the classical outlook of Diogenes. He proposes, instead, that cynicism names the difficult position of not being able to recognize the relevance of democratic social norms in the future and yet being nonetheless invested in the power of these norms to determine cultural identity and to regulate social practices. In his readings of Henry Adams' ""Education"", Willa Cather's ""The Professor's House"", F. Scott Fitzgerald's ""The Great Gatsby"", and Nathanael West's ... Read more
Benjamin Schreier is suspicious of a simple equation of cynicism with quietism, nihilism, selfishness, or false consciousness, and he rejects the notion that modern cynicism represents something categorically different from the classical outlook of Diogenes. He proposes, instead, that cynicism names the difficult position of not being able to recognize the relevance of democratic social norms in the future and yet being nonetheless invested in the power of these norms to determine cultural identity and to regulate social practices. In his readings of Henry Adams' ""Education"", Willa Cather's ""The Professor's House"", F. Scott Fitzgerald's ""The Great Gatsby"", and Nathanael West's ... Read more
Product Details
Format
Hardback
Publication date
2009
Publisher
University of Virginia Press United States
Number of pages
240
Condition
New
Series
American Literatures Initiative
Number of Pages
240
Place of Publication
Charlottesville, United States
ISBN
9780813928128
SKU
V9780813928128
Shipping Time
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Ref
99-3
About Benjamin Schreier
Benjamin Schreier is Malvin and Lea Bank Assistant Professor of English and Jewish Studies at Penn State University. He is the editor of Studies in Irreversibility: Texts and Contexts.
Reviews for The Power of Negative Thinking: Cynicism and the History of Modern American Literature
A brilliant meta-critical performance of the intellectual bankruptcy of the new historicist approach in modern American literary studies. What Schreier demonstrates is how cynicism becomes the name for thinking, for that reflexive hesitation and reformulation of terms and contexts that the ruling regimes of representation deem incompetent, inappropriate, and merely cynical reflex. Schreier subverts American studies and the American political ... Read more