American literary realism

✍ Scribed by Phillip Barrish

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 225
• Series: Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Focusing on key works of late-nineteenth and early- twentieth-century American literary realism, Phillip Barrish traces the emergence of new ways of gaining intellectual prestige--that is, new ways of gaining some degree of cultural recognition. Through extended readings of works by Henry James, William Dean Howells, Abraham Cahan, and Edith Wharton, Barrish emphasizes the differences between realist modes of cultural authority and those associated with the rise of the social sciences.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Series-title......Page 5
Title......Page 7
Copyright......Page 8
Dedication......Page 9
Contents......Page 11
Acknowledgements......Page 12
Introduction......Page 13
REALIST DISPOSITIONS......Page 15
MATERIAL CLAIMS......Page 20
REALIST TASTE VERSUS PHILISTINISM......Page 28
"ALL THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE NOW"......Page 42
CONTINGENCY, IRONY, AND CONJUGALITY......Page 52
CHAPTER TWO The “facts of physical suffering," the literary intellectual, and The Wings of the Dove......Page 60
THE FACTS OF PHYSICAL SUFFERING......Page 62
THE REAL, THE RIGHT STILLNESS......Page 66
"TOO BEAUTIFUL AND TOO SACRED TO DESCRIBE"......Page 75
INTENSELY TO CONSULT AND INTENSELY TO IGNORE......Page 79
CHAPTER THREE The "genuine article": credit and ethnicity in The Rise of David Levinsky......Page 85
FINANCIAL CAPITAL, INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL......Page 86
RAW MATERIAL......Page 91
DIALECT AND LEVINSKY'S RISE......Page 95
RECOGNIZING MISRECOGNITION......Page 97
THE GENUINE ARTICLE......Page 101
YIDDISH-SPEAKING WOMEN......Page 105
CHAPTER FOUR What Nona knows......Page 109
ONE OF THE TRENCH WATCHERS......Page 111
HANDLES OF REALITY......Page 120
POWERS OF DARKNESS......Page 126
NONA'S HANDS......Page 134
CHAPTER FIVE From reality, to materiality, to the real (and back again): the dynamics of distinction on the recent critical…......Page 140
WHAT MATTERS......Page 160
INTRODUCTION......Page 170
1 WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS AND THE ROOTS OF REALIST TASTE......Page 176
2 THE "FACTS OF PHYSICAL SUFFERING"......Page 184
3 THE "GENUINE ARTICLE": CREDIT AND ETHINICITY IN THE RISE OF DAVID LEVINSKY......Page 190
4 WHAT NONA KNOWS......Page 196
5 FROM REALITY, TO MATERIALITY, TO THE REAL (AND BACK AGAIN): THE DYNAMICS OF DISTINCTION ON THE RECENT CRITICAL SCENE......Page 200
Bibliography......Page 204
Index......Page 221