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‘Every now and then a book appears which is literally ahead of its time ... The Political Unconscious is such a book ... it sets new standards of what a classic work is.’ – Slavoj Zizek
In this ground-breaking and influential study, Fredric Jameson explores the complex place and function of literature within culture. A landmark publication, The Political Unconscious takes its place as one of the most meaningful works of the twentieth century. First published: 1983.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
36 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tour de force literary criticism,
By Darth Vader (Boston) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Political Unconscious: Narrative as a Socially Symbolic Act (Paperback)
I read "The Political Unconscious" in college and was quite dazzled with it at the time. The book is quite difficult, and I approached it after reading another work of Marxist criticism, Terry Eagleton's "Literary Theory: An Introduction," which contains a footnoted reference to Jameson. The key thing about Jameson's book is that he forgoes a formalistic close-reading approach to works of narrative literature in favor of a historicist, totalizing vision. After I read the book, I recommended it to a graduate student in philosophy, who found it a brilliant synthesis, but no more. It is true that Jameson isn't a philosophical pathbreaker, but the fact that he has read and can convincingly use the work of German Hegelian Marxists like Theodor Adorno and especially George Lukacs is quite amazing. And his readings of authors like Gissing, Hofmannsthal, and Conrad are nothing if not supple. If "Marxist criticism" seems to you the recipe for disaster (or ignorance), this entrancing book is definitely the corrective for you!
42 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Paralogisms and enchainment. Literary productions...,,
By Luca Graziuso (NYC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Political Unconscious: Narrative as a Socially Symbolic Act (Paperback)
The Political Unconscious is a prodigious crical enterprise that unveils in a stimulating protean verve, the relationship between the political structure and the narrative enterprises of a variety of literary movements and/or individual authors. A model work of Marxist Criticism that sharpens our sensitivity and awareness in relation to the confines and intransigence of political schemas, for these affect and filter, construct and deflect the interpretation of artistic ouvres, while also creating the space for them within the tension provided. A treasure as is all of Jameson's criticism, his reading of Conrad's fiction is exceptional and vibrant in tone and exposition, to the extent that one rushes to re-read "Lord Jim" and plunge into a dialogue with Jameson while at it. Fredric Jameson is an artist and a cultural critic whose philosophy and literary analysis conveyed an American brand of Marxism that is second to none. The Political Unconscious is a fable, an historical approach that disseminates, and disrupts the fixed political schemas in a valient and elegant attempt at rousing readers from the slumber in which we are , however unconsciously, shrouded. A very important work indeed; It is with refreshing vigour that he reminds us of the importance of reading and writing. Yet he does so without the ascendancy of negative theology, such as is done by Blanchot and Agamben, although they also deserve our respect and gratitude. It is just that Jameson's texts are not mired in a restless solitude that asserts itself as feigned indifference. As was the case with Adorno and Allon White, a passionate surge is provoked, and the tragedy of being human(and all the more one of those doomed creatures known as scholars)is evoked in a confessed ambiguity that laments and hates the fact that it loves and believes in this, our life.
OF NOTE: A corresponding reading of Pierre Macheray "A Theory of Literary Production" for it will illuminate the theoretical impetus of the here reviewed book that much more.
63 of 98 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Paralogisms and enchainment. Literary productions...,
This review is from: The Political Unconscious: Narrative as a Socially Symbolic Act (Paperback)
The Political Unconscious is a prodigious crical enterprise that unveils in a stimulating protean verve, the relationship between the political structure and the narrative enterprises of a variety of literary movements and/or individual authors. A model work of Marxist Criticism that sharpens our sensitivity and awareness in relation to the confines and intransigence of political schemas, for these affect and filter, construct and deflect the interpretation of artistic ouvres, while also creating the space for them within the tension provided. A treasure as is all of Jameson's criticism, his reading of Conrad's fiction is exceptional and vibrant in tone and exposition, to the extent that one rushes to re-read "Lord Jim" and plunge into a dialogue with Jameson while at it. Fredric Jameson is an artist and a cultural critic whose philosophy is Deluzian and whose literary analysis is Derridian. The Political Unconscious is a fable, an historical approach that disseminates, and disrupts the fixed political schemas in a valient and elegant attempt at rousing readers from the slumber in which we are , however unconsciously, shrouded. A very important work indeed; It is with refreshing vigour that he reminds us of the importance of reading and writing. Yet he does so without the ascendancy of negative theology, such as is done by Blanchot and Agamben, although they also deserve our respect and gratitude. It is just that Jameson's texts are not mired in a restless solitude that asserts itself as feigned indifference. As was the case with Adorno and Allon White, a passionate surge is provoked, and the tragedy of being human(and all the more one of those doomed creatures known as scholars)is evoked in a confessed ambiguity that laments and hates the fact that it loves and believes in this, our life.
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