The empty subject: the new canon and the politics of existence

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	McGowan, Todd R.
Language:	English
Published:	The Ohio State University / OhioLINK 1996
Subjects:	American Literature
Online Access:	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1382029664

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spelling	ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-osu13820296642021-08-03T06:19:53Z The empty subject: the new canon and the politics of existence McGowan, Todd R. American Literature <p>My dissertation begins with this historical coinci¬dence: recent changes in the canon of American literature and the emergence of global capitalism. This coincidence suggests that changes in the canon, through obviously not caused by economic developments, are not wholly divorced from them either, and it places, I argue, a particular burden on the relationship between readers and the new canon. Thus, the dissertation turns to the problem of interpretation, especially as it relates to recently recovered works. In the body of the dissertation, I focus on four of the most prominent of these recovered works: Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper," Kate Chopin's The Awakening, Charles Chesnutt's The Marrow of Tradition, and Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watch¬ing God. It is my position that simply expanding the canon of American literature to include these works stands as a purely appropriative gesture, unless, through inter¬pretation, we address the traumatic possibilities which each work represents. Interpretation, here, must foreground the constitution of the individual subject, because it is on this level that these works bring themselves to bear on our experience.</p><p>Through four successive chapters, the dissertation reveals four variations on a fundamental theme: substantive political action comes only with the recognition that for the human subject loss is constitutive. Each work reveals the connection between existential awareness and political action, showing how the former can be the basis for the latter. The dissertation's ultimate claim is that it is only when we become a subject, when we recognize ourselves as pure being-towards-death, that we challenge the hold which ideology has over us.</p> 1996 English text The Ohio State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1382029664 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1382029664 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.
collection	NDLTD
language	English
sources	NDLTD
topic	American Literature
spellingShingle	American Literature McGowan, Todd R. The empty subject: the new canon and the politics of existence
author	McGowan, Todd R.
author_facet	McGowan, Todd R.
author_sort	McGowan, Todd R.
title	The empty subject: the new canon and the politics of existence
title_short	The empty subject: the new canon and the politics of existence
title_full	The empty subject: the new canon and the politics of existence
title_fullStr	The empty subject: the new canon and the politics of existence
title_full_unstemmed	The empty subject: the new canon and the politics of existence
title_sort	empty subject: the new canon and the politics of existence
publisher	The Ohio State University / OhioLINK
publishDate	1996
url	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1382029664
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The empty subject: the new canon and the politics of existence

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