
States of Desire
Wilde, Yeats, Joyce, and the Irish Experiment
Vicki Mahaffey(Author)
Oxford University Press Inc
Published on 1. June 2017
Book
Paperback/Softback
298 pages
978-0-19-062398-2 (ISBN)
Description
States of Desire argues that what people desire is fundamentally connected to how they write and read. Not only do language and narrative shape desire (and vice versa), but because these processes are socially conditioned, some political circumstances, such as those present in Ireland at the turn of the century, foster experimental desire more successfully than others. Mahaffey's contribution to the critical discourse on literary modernism is to assign a political motive to the art of modernist wordplay; in doing so, she offers a more compelling and socially driven version of the oft-told tale of literary modernism. Irish writers, she argues, sought to disrupt the rigidity of political thinking and social control by turning language into a weapon; by opening up infinite new possibilities of meaning and association, linguistic play makes it impossible for thought to be monopolized by the state or any other institutional power. In this light, the text becomes a prism of political, cultural, and erotic desires: a fountain of conscious and unconscious linguistic suggestion. Defying semantic control and refuting societal repression, Wilde, Yeats, and Joyce literally fought, in their lives and in their work, for a freedom of expression which-as was painfully evidenced in the case of Wilde-was not to be had for the asking.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
511 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-062398-2 (9780190623982)
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

Book
01/1999
Oxford University Press Inc
€215.80
Shipment within 15-20 days

E-Book
12/1998
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€27.49
Available for download
Person
Vicki Mahaffey is Kirkpatrick Professor of English and Gender and Women's Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Content
Abbreviations
Introduction
Chapter 1: Wilde's Desire: A Study in Green
Chapter 2: "Horrible Splendour of Desire": The Will of W.B. Yeats
Chapter 3: Joyful Desire: Giacomo Joyce and Finnegans Wake
Conclusion
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
Introduction
Chapter 1: Wilde's Desire: A Study in Green
Chapter 2: "Horrible Splendour of Desire": The Will of W.B. Yeats
Chapter 3: Joyful Desire: Giacomo Joyce and Finnegans Wake
Conclusion
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index