Title: The Social Self
First published: November 1996
Description: The Social Self reinterprets in an innovative way a central feature of nineteenth-century American culture: the literary representation of selfhood. Taking issue with literary histories that have routinely reduced nineteenth-century culture to simple dichotomies between dominant and oppositional discourses, Joseph Alkana argues that writers such as Hawthorne, Howells, and William James treated ideas about the self with far more complexity than such polarities imply.

By showing how these and other nineteenth-century authors handled competing commitments to sociality and the individual consciousness, The Social Self offers an original and provocative reassessment of a fundamental American literary preoccupation and radically revises traditional and recent narratives of American literary culture.
Subjects: American Psychological fiction, American fiction, American literature, History, History and criticism, Influence, Knowledge, Psychological aspects, Psychological aspects of American literature, Psychological fiction, American, Psychology, Psychology in literature, Self in literature, Social psychology and literature, Hawthorne, nathaniel, 1804-1864, Howells, william dean, 1837-1920, James, william, 1842-1910, American fiction, history and criticism, 19th century, Psychological fiction, history and criticism, Knowledge and learning
Places: United States
People: Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), William Dean Howells (1837-1920), William James (1842-1910)
Time periods: 19th century
LC classification: PS374.P7 A45 1997