Misfit Modernism

In this book, Octavio R. Gonzálezrevisits the theme of alienation in the twentieth-century novel, identifying an alternative aesthetic centered on the experience of double exile, or marginalization from both majority and home culture. This misfit modernist aesthetic decenters the mainstream narrativ...

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Главный автор: González, Octavio R.
Формат: Online
Язык:английский
Опубликовано: Penn State University Press 2025
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Online-ссылка:ONIX_20250417_9780271087399_58
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author González, Octavio R.
author_browse González, Octavio R.
author_facet González, Octavio R.
author_sort González, Octavio R.
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description In this book, Octavio R. Gonzálezrevisits the theme of alienation in the twentieth-century novel, identifying an alternative aesthetic centered on the experience of double exile, or marginalization from both majority and home culture. This misfit modernist aesthetic decenters the mainstream narrative of modernism—which explores alienation from a universal and existential perspective—by showing how a group of authors leveraged modernist narrative to explore minoritarian experiences of cultural nonbelonging. Tying the biography of a particular author to a close reading of one of that author’s major works, González considers in turn Nella Larsen’s Quicksand, Wallace Thurman’s The Blacker the Berry, Jean Rhys’s Quartet, and Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man. Each of these novels explores conditions of maladjustment within one of three burgeoning cultural movements that sought representation in the greater public sphere: the New Negro movement during the Harlem Renaissance, the 1920s Paris expatriate scene, and the queer expatriate scene in Los Angeles before Stonewall. Using a methodological approach that resists institutional taxonomies of knowledge, González shows that this double exile speaks profoundly through largely autobiographical narratives and that the novels’ protagonists challenge the compromises made by these minoritarian groups out of an urge to assimilate into dominant social norms and values. Original and innovative, Misfit Modernism is a vital contribution to conversations about modernism in the contexts of sexual identity, nationality, and race. Moving beyond the debates over the intellectual legacies of intersectionality and queer theory, González shows us new ways to think about exclusion.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1586172025-04-18T04:25:14Z Misfit Modernism González, Octavio R. Literature: history and criticism Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000 Literary studies: general In this book, Octavio R. Gonzálezrevisits the theme of alienation in the twentieth-century novel, identifying an alternative aesthetic centered on the experience of double exile, or marginalization from both majority and home culture. This misfit modernist aesthetic decenters the mainstream narrative of modernism—which explores alienation from a universal and existential perspective—by showing how a group of authors leveraged modernist narrative to explore minoritarian experiences of cultural nonbelonging. Tying the biography of a particular author to a close reading of one of that author’s major works, González considers in turn Nella Larsen’s Quicksand, Wallace Thurman’s The Blacker the Berry, Jean Rhys’s Quartet, and Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man. Each of these novels explores conditions of maladjustment within one of three burgeoning cultural movements that sought representation in the greater public sphere: the New Negro movement during the Harlem Renaissance, the 1920s Paris expatriate scene, and the queer expatriate scene in Los Angeles before Stonewall. Using a methodological approach that resists institutional taxonomies of knowledge, González shows that this double exile speaks profoundly through largely autobiographical narratives and that the novels’ protagonists challenge the compromises made by these minoritarian groups out of an urge to assimilate into dominant social norms and values. Original and innovative, Misfit Modernism is a vital contribution to conversations about modernism in the contexts of sexual identity, nationality, and race. Moving beyond the debates over the intellectual legacies of intersectionality and queer theory, González shows us new ways to think about exclusion. 2025-04-18T04:25:13Z 2025-04-18T04:25:13Z 2025-04-17T09:49:44Z 2020 book ONIX_20250417_9780271087399_58 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/100948 9780271087399 9780271087139 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/158617 eng Refiguring Modernism open access image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/100948/1/9780271087399.pdf Penn State University Press Penn State University Press e4e05b94-0f85-49a1-ba66-543b1dd40087 Penn State University 25eaec65-b556-4602-ba6d-ed286e74dde5 9780271087399 9780271087139 Penn State University Press 248 University Park [...] open access
spellingShingle Literature: history and criticism
Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000
Literary studies: general
González, Octavio R.
Misfit Modernism
title Misfit Modernism
title_full Misfit Modernism
title_fullStr Misfit Modernism
title_full_unstemmed Misfit Modernism
title_short Misfit Modernism
title_sort misfit modernism
topic Literature: history and criticism
Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000
Literary studies: general
topic_facet Literature: history and criticism
Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000
Literary studies: general
url ONIX_20250417_9780271087399_58
work_keys_str_mv AT gonzalezoctavior misfitmodernism