Although paranoia is prominent in the work of many celebrated twentieth-century American writers, its literary influence is evident from the beginning of American literature. Through a careful examination of the work of the canonical nineteenth-century novelists (Brockden Brown, Hawthorne, Melville and Twain), Mike Davis traces conspiracies and conspiratorial fantasy from one narrative site to another, establishing a trajectory according to which paranoia is gradually shifted from within the consciousness of characters in fictive worlds to the world of the flesh-and-blood readers. Placing these novelists' work alongside behavioural and cultural patterns in society, this book offers an explanation for the attractiveness of paranoid thinking to the American readership.
| ISBN: | 9780203006054 |
| Publication date: | 1st November 2004 |
| Author: | Davis, Mike |
| Publisher: | Taylor and Francis |
| Format: | Ebook |
Although paranoia is prominent in the work of many celebrated twentieth-century American writers, its literary influence is evident from the beginning of American literature. Through a careful examination of the work of the canonical nineteenth-century novelists (Brockden Brown, Hawthorne, Melville and Twain), Mike Davis traces conspiracies and conspiratorial fantasy from one narrative site to another, establishing a trajectory according to which paranoia is gradually shifted from within the consciousness of characters in fictive worlds to the world of the flesh-and-blood readers. Placing these novelists' work alongside behavioural and cultural patterns in society, this book offers an explanation for the attractiveness of paranoid thinking to the American readership.
Reading the Text That Isn't There is available in Paperback, Ebook, Hardback
Reading the Text That Isn't There was written by Davis, Mike and published by Taylor and Francis
£65.00