Modernism, Narrative and Humanism

by Paul Sheehan

Overview

Paul Sheehan attempts to redefine Modernist narrative for the twenty-first century. According to Sheehan, Modernism presents a major form of critique of the fundamental presumptions of humanism. By pairing key Modernist writers with philosophical critics of the humanist tradition, he shows how Modernists sought to discover humanism's inhuman potential. He reveals the crucial link between the Modernist novel's narrative concerns and its philosophical orientation in a book that will be of interest to scholars of Modernism and literary theory.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521099127
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/24/2008
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.59(d)

About the Author

Paul Sheehan is a Sydney-based writer and researcher. He studied at Birkbeck College, London, and has published articles on Dickens and Beckett.

Table of Contents

Preface; Acknowledgements; Introduction: The anthropometric turn; 1. Narrating the animal, amputating the soul; 2. Conrad and technology: homo-ex-machina; 3. The Lawrentian transcendent: after the fall; 4. Woolf's luminance: time out of mid; 5. Doubting Beckett: voices descant, stories still; Conclusion: Humanness unbound; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"... a brilliant study that sheds considerable light on the antihumanist and counterhumanist tendencies in literature, philosophy, and critical theory over the past 150 years." Modern Fiction Studies

"...very interesting and persuasive..." Modern Philology

From the Publisher

Identifying a fundamental shift between 1850 and 1950, a turning away from the human as a given towards the human as a problem, the author examines how English language novelists grappled with the unmooring of humanism. He relates the writings of Conrad, Beckett, Woolf, and Lawrence to the philosophies of Darwin, Nietzsche, and Schopenhauer, investigating their varying valuations of the human. The writers' use of narrative form is identified as being central to their contribution to an antihumanist discourse. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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