The book Modernism and Theory edited by Stephen Ross discusses the strong historicist bent of Modernist studies. This group would focus on theory, the importance of theory for modernist studies, and the centrality of theory to the very concept of modernism.
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James Gifford deposited “In Our Time” and “They All Made Peace—What Is Peace?”: The 1923 Text in the group
Theory and Modernism on MLA Commons 3 years, 3 months ago
This critical edition of the 1923 state of Hemingway’s In Our Time is the first of three volumes for each major state of the text. Few writers have shaped the style of twentieth century prose as did Hemingway, and it all began with the “vignettes” in The Little Review, which have been largely unavailable for scholars and entirely out of reach for…[Read more]
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James Gifford deposited Hobgoblins of Fantasy: American Fantasy Fiction in Theory in the group
Theory and Modernism on MLA Commons 3 years, 5 months ago
“A frightful hobgoblin stalks through Europe. We are haunted by a ghost, the ghost of Communism.” This epigraph comes from the 1850 translation of The Communist Manifesto by Helen Macfarlane, and this special feature in The New Americanist assumes that a similarly frightful hobgoblin stalks through genre fiction, too. Fantasy as a genre is haunted…[Read more]
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James Gifford deposited Modernism (Syllabus) in the group
Theory and Modernism on MLA Commons 3 years, 10 months ago
Introduction to the literary theory, form, and style of Modernism, a literary movement that dominated the first half of the 20th century and continues to exert its influence over literature today, which, tellingly, is described by the label post-Modernism.
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Jesse Miller deposited Antinomian Remedies: Rehabilitative Futurism, Towards a Better Life , and Kenneth Burke’s Modernist Equipment for Living in the group
Theory and Modernism on MLA Commons 4 years, 1 month ago
This essay examines the relationship between modernist formal experimentation and rehabilitative futurism, the modern cultural fantasy of a hygienic future in which all illness and disability have been eradicated. Through a reading of Kenneth Burke’s early essay collection Counter-Statement (1931) and his first and only novel, Towards a Better…[Read more]
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James Elkins deposited The Logic of Sensation and Logique de la sensation as Models for Experimental Writing on Images in the group
Theory and Modernism on MLA Commons 5 years, 5 months ago
Very short essay on the way Deleuze uses images in his book on Bacon. In the original French edition, the images are in a separate volume; he does that in order to mime, or enact, the theory of sensation in his text. It seems to me this is an unusual and promising strategy for art history (disposing images so their sequence and arrangement…[Read more]
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James Elkins deposited The “Finnegans Wake of Russia,” And Its Translation Problems: On Sasha Sokolov’s “Between Dog and Wolf” in the group
Theory and Modernism on MLA Commons 5 years, 11 months ago
The essays I am posting on Humanities Commons are also on Librarything and Goodreads. These aren’t reviews. They are thoughts about the state of literary fiction, intended principally for writers and critics involved in seeing where literature might be able to go. Each one uses a book as an example of some current problem in writing.
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James Elkins deposited Why Write Average Books? On Julian Barnes’s “The Sense of an Ending” in the group
Theory and Modernism on MLA Commons 5 years, 11 months ago
The essays I am posting on Humanities Commons are also on Librarything and Goodreads. These aren’t reviews. They are thoughts about the state of literary fiction, intended principally for writers and critics involved in seeing where literature might be able to go. Each one uses a book as an example of some current problem in writing.
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James Elkins deposited The Prehistory of Constrained Writing: Thoughts on Michel Butor’s “Degrees, A Novel” in the group
Theory and Modernism on MLA Commons 5 years, 11 months ago
The essays I am posting on Humanities Commons are also on Librarything and Goodreads. These aren’t reviews. They are thoughts about the state of literary fiction, intended principally for writers and critics involved in seeing where literature might be able to go. Each one uses a book as an example of some current problem in writing.
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James Elkins deposited A Relation Between Theory and the Machinic Imagination: Notes on Christine Brooke-Rose’s “Life, End of” in the group
Theory and Modernism on MLA Commons 5 years, 11 months ago
The essays I am posting on Humanities Commons are also on Librarything and Goodreads. These aren’t reviews. They are thoughts about the state of literary fiction, intended principally for writers and critics involved in seeing where literature might be able to go. Each one uses a book as an example of some current problem in writing.
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James Elkins deposited Representing a Ruined Mind in Fiction; and a Note on How Google Ruins Reading: On Markson’s “Reader’s Block” in the group
Theory and Modernism on MLA Commons 5 years, 11 months ago
The essays I am posting on Humanities Commons are also on Librarything and Goodreads. These aren’t reviews. They are thoughts about the state of literary fiction, intended principally for writers and critics involved in seeing where literature might be able to go. Each one uses a book as an example of some current problem in writing.
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James Elkins deposited Images in Andre Breton’s “Nadja” in the group
Theory and Modernism on MLA Commons 5 years, 11 months ago
This is an essay on the relation of images and text. It is part of a larger research project online at writingwithimages.com. See that site for the context; the the project’s purpose is to theorize the possibilities of fiction and poetry that are presented alongside images.
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James Elkins deposited What is a Rant in Literature: Notes on Gaddis’s Agape Agape in the group
Theory and Modernism on MLA Commons 5 years, 11 months ago
The essays I am posting on Humanities Commons are also on Librarything and Goodreads. These aren’t reviews. They are thoughts about the state of literary fiction, intended principally for writers and critics involved in seeing where literature might be able to go. Each one uses a book as an example of some current problem in writing.
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James Elkins deposited On the Limits of Wit and of Plotting in Maximalist Novels: Notes on Sergio De la Pava, Naked Singularity in the group
Theory and Modernism on MLA Commons 5 years, 12 months ago
The essays I am posting on Humanities Commons are also on Librarything and Goodreads. These aren’t reviews. They are thoughts about the state of literary fiction, intended principally for writers and critics involved in seeing where literature might be able to go. Each one uses a book as an example of some current problem in writing.
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James Elkins deposited What Does it Mean to Claim a Novel is a Single Sentence? Notes on Mathias Enard, Zone in the group
Theory and Modernism on MLA Commons 5 years, 12 months ago
The essays I am posting on Humanities Commons are also on Librarything and Goodreads. These aren’t reviews. They are thoughts about the state of literary fiction, intended principally for writers and critics involved in seeing where literature might be able to go. Each one uses a book as an example of some current problem in writing.
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James Elkins deposited What is the Genuinely Strange in Literature? Notes on Flann O’Brien, The Third Policeman in the group
Theory and Modernism on MLA Commons 5 years, 12 months ago
The essays I am posting on Humanities Commons are also on Librarything and Goodreads. These aren’t reviews. They are thoughts about the state of literary fiction, intended principally for writers and critics involved in seeing where literature might be able to go. Each one uses a book as an example of some current problem in writing. All c…[Read more]
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Celia I. Carlson started the topic Notes on Adorno's Minima Moralia in the discussion
Theory and Modernism on MLA Commons 8 years, 3 months ago
I am going to post my notes on a discussion at Portland State University 2/12/15 on Adorno’s Minima Moralia. This was a first discussion, just a couple of people F2F. Would anyone like to add commentary?
We began by noticing Adorno’s use of aphorism; are his aphorisms an attempt to capture dialectical thought through style?
How is this related t…[Read more]
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Celia I. Carlson started the topic Notes on Benjamin's Arcades Project in the discussion
Theory and Modernism on MLA Commons 8 years, 4 months ago
Hi all. I was hoping to make this an active discussion group. With that in mind, I am posting my notes of two discussions at Portland State University of Benjamin’s Arcades Project by the Modernism reading group. I was hoping perhaps this group might add comments or suggest new topics for reading. As well, we might think of panels for the MLA and…[Read more]
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Celia I. Carlson created the group
Theory and Modernism on MLA Commons 10 years, 2 months ago
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There are seven of us now. I have established an online discussion site in Wordpress, and I wonder if you would like to join. I can establish discussion links for authors or books. If you are interested, reply or email me at Celia.Carlson@mhcc.edu. I can also ask the MLA Commons people if it’s possible to make a link to a Wordpress site from a…[Read more]
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