Writing in Between: Modernity and Psychosocial Dilemma in the Novels of Joseph Conrad

by Beth Sharon Ash

Overview

In Writing in Between , Beth Sharon Ash develops an important theoretical framework for interpreting Conrad's signal texts and his situation as an author. Using object-relations psychoanalysis, Ash reinserts into the literary conversation the idea of the psychologically-inflected subject. She integrates authorial subjectivity within historical context, thus lending agency and density to the 'relational subject' without neglecting the social forces which shape it. This book carefully positions Conrad as a writer caught 'in between,' as both a figure of alienation, critically disenchanted with British imperialism, and an orphan of genius desperately desiring a fit with his adopted culture. Through specific, often surprising readings of Conrad's novels and broad analysis of psychoanalytic and modernist criticism, Ash makes a significant theoretical contribution to theories of the subject.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312214838
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan US
Publication date:	10/22/1999
Edition description:	1999
Pages:	339
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

BETH SHARON ASH is Associate Professor of English at the University of Cincinnati and taught previously for several years at the University of Chicago. She has published extensively on Henry James, other Modernists such as Walter Benjamin, and select topics in critical and literary theory, including Jewish hermeneutics, deconstruction, and psychohistory.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Psychosocial Contexts of Conrad: Authorial Subjectivity PART ONE: INDUSTRIALIZATION AND 'SECULAR THEODICY' Alterity and Emptiness: A Psychosocial Reading of The Nigger of the 'Narcissus' Saved from Separation: The Tale's Sentimental Conclusion and the 'Preface' PART TWO: TALES TOLD IN THE MATRIX OF IMPERIALISM: HEART OF DARKNESS AND LORD JIM Imperialist Nation and Self-Fashioning Marlovian Narration and Unreconstructed Ideology Critique Positioning Conrad: Reading for Affect in Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim PART THREE: DISAPPEARING LANDMARKS: 'REVOLUTIONARY' SOCIAL CHANGE AND PSYCHOBIOGRAPHY The Political and Personal Cultures of The Secret Agent Conrad in Relation: Wells, Galsworthy, Dostoevsky Under Western Eyes : A 'Russian' Novel by 'Homo-Duplex' Notes Index

Editorial Reviews

“A major book on Conrad that will be claimed by students of culture and acclaimed by theorists of critical method.” —William Veeder, University of Chicago

“In this exhaustively researched and elegantly written study, the author sets forth an approach to literature based on 'psychosocial dialectics,' combining psychoanalytic and cultural criticism.” —Jeffrey Berman, State University of New York at Albany

From the Publisher

Develops a theoretical framework for interpreting Conrad's signal texts and his situation as an author. Uses relational psychoanalysis to examine the idea of the psychological inflected subject in a literary context, and integrates authorial and fictional subjectivity with specific historical contexts. Positions Conrad as a writer caught in between, as both a figure of alienation disenchanted with British imperialism, and an orphan of genius desiring a fit with his adopted culture. The author is associate professor of English at the University of Cincinnati. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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