Modernist fiction, cosmopolitanism and the politics of community
By: Jessica Berman.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2001
Place of publication: Cambridge, UK; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 242
Subjects: James, Henry, 1843-1916 -- Political and social views.; Proust, Marcel, 1871-1922 -- Political and social views.; Woolf, Virginia, 1882-1941 -- Political and social views.; Stein, Gertrude, 1874-1946 -- Political and social views.; American fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism.; Modernism (Literature) -- United States.; Politics and literature -- History -- 20th century.; Literature and society -- History -- 20th century.; Community life in literature.; Cosmopolitanism.
Description: "In Modernist Fiction, Cosmopolitanism, and the Politics of Community, Jessica Berman argues that the fiction of Henry James, Marcel Proust, Virginia Woolf, and Gertrude Stein engages directly with early twentieth-century transformations of community and cosmopolitanism. Although these modernist writers develop radically different models for social organization, their writings return again and again to issues of commonality, shared voice, and exchange of experience, particularly in relation to dominant discourses of gender and nationality. The writings of James, Proust, Woolf, and Stein not only inscribe early-twentieth century anxieties about race, ethnicity, nationality and gender, but confront them with demands for modern, cosmopolitan versions of community.

This study seeks to revise theories of community and cosmopolitanism in light of their construction in narrative, and in particular it seeks to reveal the ways that modernist fiction can provide meaningful alternative models of community."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 203-234) and index.