Literature, Culture and Society

Abstract

Chapter One: Literature, Culture and the Canon 1. Literary Studies: Classics, Comparative Literature, English Literature 2. Literature as Value: The Canon, Criticism, Minority Culture 3. From Literary to Cultural Studies: The Sociological Turn 4. Elitism, Populism and Immodest Cultural Studies 5. The Intelligentsia as a Social Class Chapter Two: Analytical Strategies 1. Hermeneutics 2. Cultural Materialism and New Historicism 3. The Sociology of Culture 4. Theories of Ideology 5. Semiology and Semiotics 6. Psychoanalysis and Post-Structuralism 7. The Cultural Politics of Difference 8. Postmodernism Chapter Three: Mechanical Reproduction - The Forces of Production 1. The Literary Mode of Production 2. Mechanical Reproduction 3. The Print Media 4. The Audio-Visual Media 5. Cultural Form 6. The Sociology of the Novel 7. The Moretti Thesis: Core, Periphery and Literary Form Chapter Four: Commodity Culture - The Relations of Production 1. Print-Capitalism 2. Writers and Writing 3. Readers and Reading 4. The State, Ideology and the Market Chapter Five: Texts and Contexts - From Genesis to Frankenstein 1. Genesis 2. Paradise Lost 3. Frankenstein 4. Frankenstein in the Cinema Chapter Six: Texts and Contexts - From Rossum's Universal Robots to Buffy the Vampire Slayer 1. Rossum's Universal Robots 2. Metropolis 3. Blade Runner 4. The X-Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer 5. The Postmodern Prometheus and the Biomechanical Demonoid 6. Postmodern Gothic 7. Conclusion: Loose Canons and Fallen Angels