The Politics of Realism
Published on 18. November 2021
Book
Hardback
288 pages
978-1-350-22853-5 (ISBN)
Description
Exploring the controversial history of an aesthetic - realism - this book examines the role that realism plays in the negotiation of social, political, and material realities from the mid-19th century to the present day.
Examining a broad range of literary texts from French, English, Italian, German, and Russian writers, this book provides new insights into how realism engages with themes including capital, social decorum, the law and its politicisation, modern science as a determining factor concerning truth, and the politics of identity.
Considering works from Gustave Flaubert, Charles Baudelaire, Emile Zola, Henry James, Charles Dickens, and George Orwell, Docherty proposes a new philosophical conception of the politics of realism in an age where politics feels increasingly erratic and fantastical.
Examining a broad range of literary texts from French, English, Italian, German, and Russian writers, this book provides new insights into how realism engages with themes including capital, social decorum, the law and its politicisation, modern science as a determining factor concerning truth, and the politics of identity.
Considering works from Gustave Flaubert, Charles Baudelaire, Emile Zola, Henry James, Charles Dickens, and George Orwell, Docherty proposes a new philosophical conception of the politics of realism in an age where politics feels increasingly erratic and fantastical.
Reviews / Votes
Thomas Docherty's wide-ranging, spirited account of the role played by a contested aesthetic weaves examples from literature, visual arts, and film ... in admirably clear, accessible language that avoids jargon. * Modern Language Review * This well-written, well-thought-out book applies many Continental philosophical notions to the almost endless antagonisms between artists attempting to depict the world as they see it, and the political power of those who would deny the very need for change. * CHOICE * Docherty uses these categories to triangulate realism's changing shapes across two centuries of Western aesthetic debates and politics... [The] Politics of Realism leaves scope for a suitable response to how this realism of identity, at least in the European mediascape, might present a form of resistance just as Italian neorealism once did. * Midwest Modern Language Association *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
5 bw illus
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Weight
581 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-22853-5 (9781350228535)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Thomas Docherty
The Politics of Realism
E-Book
10/2021
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Academic
€32.99
Available for download
Person
Thomas Docherty is Professor of English at Warwick University, UK. He has published on most areas of English and comparative literature from the Renaissance to the present day. He specializes in the philosophy of literary criticism, in critical theory, and in cultural history in relation primarily to European philosophy and literatures. Some of his previous publications include John Donne Undone (Methuen, Routledge, 1986) Postmodernism (Harvester/Columbia UP, 1993), Aesthetic Democracy (Stanford UP, 2006) and The English Question (Sussex Academic, 2008).
Content
Introduction
1 Assembly: Following the Money
2 A Private View
3 Grotesque Realism: Impropriety and Decorum
4 Legislating Reality
5 Science: The Force of Vision and the Vision of Force
6 Realism Changes Reality
7 Naked Propaganda: The Intimate Things of Common Life
8 Neorealism: The Real as Resistance
9 Politics of Fact
1 Assembly: Following the Money
2 A Private View
3 Grotesque Realism: Impropriety and Decorum
4 Legislating Reality
5 Science: The Force of Vision and the Vision of Force
6 Realism Changes Reality
7 Naked Propaganda: The Intimate Things of Common Life
8 Neorealism: The Real as Resistance
9 Politics of Fact