Culture and Materialism
Published on 13. October 2020
320 pages
978-1-83976-307-6 (ISBN)
Description
A comprehensive introduction to the work of one of the outstanding intellectuals of the twentieth century.
Raymond Williams is a towering presence in cultural studies, most importantly as the founder of the approach that has come to be known as "cultural materialism." Yet Williams's method was always open-ended and fluid, and this volume collects together his most significant work from over a twenty-year period in which he wrestled with the concepts of materialism and culture and their interrelationship. Aside from his more directly theoretical texts, however, case-studies of theatrical naturalism, the Bloomsbury group, advertising, science fiction, and the Welsh novel are also included as illustrations of the method at work. Finally, Williams's identity as an active socialist, rather than simply an academic, is captured by two unambiguously political pieces on the past, present and future of Marxism.
Raymond Williams is a towering presence in cultural studies, most importantly as the founder of the approach that has come to be known as "cultural materialism." Yet Williams's method was always open-ended and fluid, and this volume collects together his most significant work from over a twenty-year period in which he wrestled with the concepts of materialism and culture and their interrelationship. Aside from his more directly theoretical texts, however, case-studies of theatrical naturalism, the Bloomsbury group, advertising, science fiction, and the Welsh novel are also included as illustrations of the method at work. Finally, Williams's identity as an active socialist, rather than simply an academic, is captured by two unambiguously political pieces on the past, present and future of Marxism.
More details
Series
Edition
Ebook UK & RoW
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Reflowable
ISBN-13
978-1-83976-307-6 (9781839763076)
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.
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Raymond Williams
Culture and Materialism
Book
10/2020
Verso Books
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Person
Raymond Williams was born in 1921 in the Welsh border village of Pandy, and was educated at the village school, at Abergavenny Grammar School, and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was elected Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1961 and was later appointed University Professor of Drama.
His books include Culture and Society (1958), The Long Revolution (1961) and its sequel Towards 2000 (1983); Communications (1962) and Television: Technology and Cultural Form (1974); Drama in Performance (1954), Modern Tragedy (1966) and Drama from Ibsen to Brecht (1968); The English Novel from Dickens to Lawrence (1970), Orwell (1971) and The Country and the City (1973); Politics and Letters (interviews) (1979) and Problems in Materialism and Culture (selected essays) (1980); and four novels - the Welsh trilogy of Border Country (1960), Second Generation (1964) and The Fight for Manod (1979), and The Volunteers (1978).
His books include Culture and Society (1958), The Long Revolution (1961) and its sequel Towards 2000 (1983); Communications (1962) and Television: Technology and Cultural Form (1974); Drama in Performance (1954), Modern Tragedy (1966) and Drama from Ibsen to Brecht (1968); The English Novel from Dickens to Lawrence (1970), Orwell (1971) and The Country and the City (1973); Politics and Letters (interviews) (1979) and Problems in Materialism and Culture (selected essays) (1980); and four novels - the Welsh trilogy of Border Country (1960), Second Generation (1964) and The Fight for Manod (1979), and The Volunteers (1978).
Content
- Cover Page
- Halftitle Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- Publisher's Note
- Acknowledgments
- 1
- A Hundred Years of Culture and Anarchy
- 2
- Literature and Sociology: In Memory of Lucien Goldmann
- Base and Superstructure in Marxist Cultural Theory
- Means of Communication as Means of Production
- 3
- Ideas of Nature
- Social Darwinism
- Problems of Materialism
- 4
- Social Environment and Theatrical Environment: The Case of English Naturalism
- The Bloomsbury Fraction
- Advertising: the Magic System
- Utopia and Science Fiction
- The Welsh Industrial Novel
- 5
- Notes on Marxism in Britain Since 1945
- Beyond Actually Existing Socialism
- Notes
- Index
