The Novel and the Globalization of Culture

by Michael Valdez Moses

Overview

Bringing together canonical European authors with authors from the Third World, this book analyzes the emergence of the modern global novel, and the way it mirrors the underlying process of cultural globalization. Through detailed readings of Stendhal, Hardy, Conrad, Achebe, and Vargas Llosa, this study reveals how the spread of Western modernity--materially and culturally--has been shadowed by the destruction of traditional societies. These novels focus on the individual tragedies of those who represent pre-modern ways of life; in the process, offering a corrective to Hegel's abstruse philosophy of history. From rural Victorian England to the Malay Archipelago, and from the Igbo heartland in Africa to the backlands of Brazil, a global narrative unfolds, one where the forces of modernization clash with the defenders of traditional society. Moses contributes to the ongoing debate on Alexandre Koj've and the "end of history", while, at the same time, moving beyond sterile oppositions--canonical versus non-canonical works, formal literary criticism versus political/historical critique. With its new conceptualization of modernity and globalization, this book will interest the literary scholar, cultural critic, social scientist, and political theorist.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195358285
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/25/1995
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	369 KB

Editorial Reviews

"As fascinating as the individual chapters are, in this case the whole is much greater than the sum of the parts....At the deepest level, the book transcends the limits of literary criticism, and makes a substantial contribution to contemporary debates over the end of history and the global spread of modern Western culture. This is without question one of the most interesting and important books to grow out of the contemporary movement to expand the literary canon and to view European culture within a larger global context."—Virginia Quarterly Review

"Recommended for general, undergraduate, and graduate collections, and particularly for students of the modern novel."—Choice

"Michael Moses has taken two overused concepts—'the end of history' and multiculturalism—and subjected them to a rigorous interrogation on the way to giving us the theory and canon of the posthistorical novel. A considerable achievement."—Stanley Fish, Duke University

"It is increasingly apparent that the colonialist/postcolonialist paradigm is running out of steam as a means for understanding contemporary cultural conditions. It does not adequately account for the processes of globalization which are becoming increasingly organized and powerful as the twentieth century draws to a close. In this situation important new questions emerge. For instance: what does the transnational literary past look like from a global perspective? This is the topic which Michael Moses pioneers in his brave and timely book. And he finds that certain key novelists long ago anticipated the triumphs and tragedies of contemporary cultural globalization. Anyone with a more than parochial interest in the history of the novel will need to know his work."—Simon During, University of Melbourne

"Moses shows the folly of trying to maintain a sharp division between so-called canonical and non-canonical works of literature. In a series of probing readings of major texts of modern fiction, he convincingly demonstrates that Latin American and African authors, far from being simply opposed to their European counterparts, actually share a number of vital concerns with them, centering around the problem of modernization and the tragedies it produces in traditional societies. What is most remarkable is the architectonic power of Moses's argument: he ends up shaping a narrative that is as global as the phenomena he is discussing."—Paul A. Cantor, University of Virginia

From the Publisher