Bleak liberalism
Amanda Anderson
- x, 171 Seiten 24 cm
Includes bibliographical references and index
Why is liberalism so often dismissed by thinkers from both the left and the right? To those calling for wholesale transformation or claiming a monopoly on “realistic” conceptions of humanity, liberalism’s assured progressivism can seem hard to swallow. Bleak Liberalism makes the case for a renewed understanding of the liberal tradition, showing that it is much more attuned to the complexity of political life than conventional accounts have acknowledged. Amanda Anderson examines canonical works of high realism, political novels from England and the United States, and modernist works to argue that liberalism has engaged sober and even stark views of historical development, political dynamics, and human and social psychology. From Charles Dickens’s Bleak House and Hard Times to E. M. Forster’s Howards End to Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook, this literature demonstrates that liberalism has inventive ways of balancing sociological critique and moral aspiration. A deft blend of intellectual history and literary analysis, Bleak Liberalism reveals a richer understanding of one of the most important political ideologies of the modern era.
9780226923529 : pbk : alk. paper 9780226923512 : cloth : alk. paper
9780226923529
2016032592
Liberalism in literature American literature--History and criticism--20th century English literature--History and criticism--19th century Realism in literature Modernism (Literature) Politics and literature Literature--Philosophy Liberalism Liberalism in literature American literature--History and criticism--20th century English literature--History and criticism--19th century Realism in literature Modernism (Literature) Politics and literature Literature--Philosophy Liberalism
Class of Spring 2020 John P. Birkelund Fellow in the Humanities Fellow