Jarring Witnesses: Modern Fiction and the Representation of History

Robert Holton

Published by Edinburgh University Press 1996

Jarring Witnesses

Modern Fiction and the Representation of History

Robert Holton

In the series Postmodern Theory

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474469272

Overview
Contents

About this book

Jarring Witnesses begins by surveying the problem of point of view as a formal, cognitive and cultural determinant in narrative historiography, particularly in the way certain dominant forms of 'legitimate' history have necessitated the suppresson of the voices of 'jarring witnesses'. The theory is explored in relation to Pierre Bourdieu's theories of doxa and heterodoxy, Bakhtin's concept of heteroglossia, and postmodernism. With this theoretical framework established, a number of modern novels concerned with history are then explored. Chapters devoted to Conrad's Nostromo, Ford's Parade's End, and Faulkner's Absolom, Absolom! examine the ultimate orthodox historiographical points of view in these novels, while a chapter on the fiction of African-American women engages the problem of historiography from the margins of the dominant culture. In the final chapter, Pynchon's V is the focus of a discussion of postmodernism and historical discourse. This is an original, interdisciplinary work which engages issues of contemporaray academic debate and illustrates its arguments with examples from well-known texts. The book is relevant to current debates in the problems of narrative representation both in fiction and the writing of history, while addressing questions being raised in literary studies concerning the representation of cultural difference and the varieties of social and discursive power.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Foreword Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Part I History and narrative
1 Historical narrative and the politics of point of view Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2 Common sense and historical narrative Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	36
Part II Modernism and orthodoxy
3 Nostromo and the ‘torrent of rubbish’ Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	57
4 Parade’s End: ‘Has the British this or that come to this!’ Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	93
5 Absalom, Absalom!: The ‘nigger in the woodpile’ Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	128
Part III Postmodernism and heterodoxy
6 Bearing witness: African-American women’s fiction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	163
7 V.: In the rathouse of history with Thomas Pynchon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	217
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	246
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	258
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	280
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	297

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 304
Keywords: Literary Studies

eBook

Published: June 7, 2022
ISBN: 9781474469272