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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Performativity in Elizabeth Gaskell's Shorter Fiction: A Case Study in the Uses of Theory

Performativity in Elizabeth Gaskell's Shorter Fiction: A Case Study in the Uses of Theory

Schaub, Melissa

Hardcover

Literary CriticismGeneral Gender Studies

ISBN10: 3030263134
ISBN13: 9783030263133
Publisher: Palgrave Pivot
Published: Sep 11 2019
Pages: 76
Weight: 0.58
Height: 0.25 Width: 5.83 Depth: 8.27
Language: English
This book simultaneously examines the specific theoretical issues raised by Elizabeth Gaskell's use of characterization in her shorter fiction, and addresses the larger question of how literary critics ought to use theory. The text gives a history of Judith Butler's theory of performativity and the uptake of that theory in literary criticism, and also provides detailed close reading of Gaskell's fiction--both frequently examined texts like Cranford, Mary Barton, and Wives and Daughters, and some that are less often studied, such as Lizzie Leigh and Cousin Phillis. The book argues that as theory becomes naturalized into the vocabulary of literary scholars, it often becomes more optimistic and less specific. In discussing the naturalization of theory exemplified by the application of performativity to Gaskell, the book advances general principles on the use of theory. It can be read as scholarship or used as a textbook in literary methods courses.

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