In recent cultural studies, poetry has become something of a
neglected genre. Warwick Slinn seeks to reverse that trend and
argues that a fundamental continuity between the meaning of a
poetic trope and the social function of language can be established
through speech act theory--specifically through the linguistically
based model of performativity.
Victorian Poetry as Cultural Critique discusses five Victorian
poems in order to show how their display of language enacts a
cultural critique, examining the conditions and realization of
social and political discourses. Slinn begins by distinguishing the
main conceptual strands of performativity and then explains how
each poem dramatizes a fluid mix of identity, power, and ideology.
By foregrounding such events as speech acts, these poems expose the
politics of power relationships and show how performative language
is inextricable from the means by which power relationships are
enacted. Focusing on the internal dynamics of specific poems, Slinn
challenges the separation of poetic language from social criticism
and eventually questions traditional perceptions of poetic form
itself.
The selected poems, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert
Browning, Arthur Hugh Clough, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and Augusta
Webster, offer a range of contentious issues that are in themselves
politically challenging. The poets address such diverse and
problematic concerns as slavery, sexual politics, prostitution,
consciousness, agency, aestheticism, religious belief, and
philosophical idealism. The discussion of each poem attends to the
complexity of the poem's utterance, its historical contexts, and
its broader implications for cultural meaning.
E. Warwick Slinn, Associate Professor in the School of English
and Media Studies, Massey University, New Zealand, is the author of
Browning and the Fictions of Identity and The Discourse of Self in
Victorian Poetry (Virginia).
Victorian Literature and Culture Series
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
