Fictions of Autonomy: Modernism from Wilde to de Man (Modernist Literature and Culture)

No aspect of modernist literature has attracted more passionate defenses, or more furious denunciations, than its affinity for the idea of autonomy. A belief in art as a law unto itself is central to the work of many writers from the late nineteenth century to the present. But is this belief just a way of denying art's social contexts, its roots in the lives of its creators, its political and ethical obligations? Fictions of Autonomy argues that the concept of autonomy is, on the contrary, essential for understanding modernism historically. Disputing the prevailing skepticism about autonomy, Andrew Goldstone shows that the pursuit of relative independence within society is modernism's distinctive way of relating to its contexts. Modernist autonomy is grounded in connections to servants and audiences, aging bodies and wardrobe choices; it joins T.S. Eliot to Adorno as exponents of late style and Djuna Barnes to Joyce as anti-communal cosmopolitans. Autonomy reveals new affinities across an expansive modernist field from Henry James and Proust to Stevens and de Man. Drawing on Bourdieu's sociology, formalist reading, and historical contextualization, this book shows autonomy's range--and its limitations--as a modernist mode of social practice. Nothing less than an argument for a wholesale revision of the assumptions of modernist studies, Fictions of Autonomy is also an intervention in literary theory. This book shows why anyone interested in literary history, the sociology of culture, and aesthetics needs to take account of the social, stylistic, and political significance of the problem, and the potential, of autonomy No aspect of modernist literature has attracted more passionate defenses, or more furious denunciations, than its affinity for the idea of autonomy. A belief in art as a law unto itself is central to the work of many writers from the late nineteenth century to the present. But is this belief just a way of denying art's social contexts, its roots in the lives of its creators, its political and ethical obligations?Fictions of Autonomy argues that the concept of autonomy is, on the contrary, essential for understanding modernism historically. Disputing the prevailing skepticism about autonomy, Andrew Goldstone shows that the pursuit of relative independence within society is modernism's distinctive way of relating to its contexts. Modernist autonomy is grounded in connections to servants and audiences, aging bodies and wardrobe choices; it joins T.S. Eliot to Adorno as exponents of late style and Djuna Barnes to Joyce as anti-communal cosmopolitans. Autonomy reveals new affinities across an expansive modernist field from Henry James and Proust to Stevens and de Man. Drawing on Bourdieu's sociology, formalist reading, and historical contextualization, this book shows autonomy's range--and its limitations--as a modernist mode of social practice.Nothing less than an argument for a wholesale revision of the assumptions of modernist studies, Fictions of Autonomy is also an intervention in literary theory. This book shows why anyone interested in literary history, the sociology of culture, and aesthetics needs to take account of the social, stylistic, and political significance of the problem, and the potential, of autonomy. The idea of aesthetic autonomy—of art as a law unto itself—was a central preoccupation of modernism. Yet recent literary scholarship has tended to reject autonomy out of hand as a denial of literature’s social and historical contexts. This book argues instead that autonomy is modernism’s distinctive mode of social relations; it demonstrates the many forms of relative autonomy modernist novelists, poets, critics, and theorists imagined and strove for. Using a combination of formalist reading, Bourdieuean sociology of culture, and historical contextualization, the book uncovers the centrality of autonomy problems and aspirations in unexpected modernist topoi: the relations between domestic servants and aesthetes; visions of literary and musical late style; the Parisian expatriate lifestyle; and the figure of tautology. Through these topoi, this book analyzes four successively more expansive versions of autonomy for the artwork: from the world of labor, from the artist’s personality, from political community, and from referentiality. The book's analysis shows that autonomy is indispensable to a historical understanding of transnational modernism from late-nineteenth-century aesthetes (Wilde, Huysmans, Henry James), to high modernists (Marcel Proust, T. S. Eliot, James Joyce, Wallace Stevens), to late modernists (Djuna Barnes, Theodor Adorno, Paul de Man). Goldstone concludes that autonomy remains equally vital as a key concept for a renewed, sociologically rigorous literary study—of modernism and of other literary epochs—and an important but contentious doctrine in contemporary literature Content: Introduction -- An institutional approach -- Aesthetic autonomy in practice and philosophy -- The fictions of autonomy and their themes -- Modernist studies and the expanded field -- Autonomy from labor: in service to art for art's sake from Wilde to Prouse -- Aesthetic autonomy? Our servants will do that for us -- Wilde: the truth of masks with manners -- Huysmans: the decadent master-servant dialectic -- Henry James: the subtlety of service -- Proust: service in the magic circle -- Aestheticist self-consciousness -- Autonomy from the person: impersonality and lateness in Eliot and Adorno -- Adorno's theory of impersonality -- Eliot's late style, 1910-58 -- Four Quarters and musical lateness -- The late style and the intentional fallacy -- Expatriation as autonomy: Djuna Barnes, James Joyce, and aesthetic cosmopolitanism -- Nightwood: the luminous deterioration of cosmopolitanism -- French nights and the artist's lifestyle -- Wandering Jews, wandering Americans -- "Vagaries Malicieux": losing all connection at the Deux Magots -- Stephen Dedalus's hat -- Literature without external reference: tautology in Wallace Stevens and Paul de Man -- The aesthete is the aesthete -- The academy of fine ideas: Stevens and de Man in the University -- De Man, modernism, and the correspondence theory -- The sound of autonomy -- The plain sense of tautology -- Epilogue: autonomy now -- Autonomy, literary study, and knowledge production -- Autonomy abroad: proliferation on the world stage -- The truth about fictions of autonomy. Fictions of Autonomy argues that the concept of autonomy is, on the contrary, essential for understanding modernism historically. Disputing the prevailing skepticism about autonomy, Andrew Goldstone shows that the pursuit of relative independence within society is modernism's distinctive way of relating to its contexts. Goldstone examines an expansive modernist field in fiction, poetry, and theory - Oscar Wilde, J.-K. Huysmans, Henry James, Marcel Proust, T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, Wallace Stevens, Djuna Barnes, Theodor Adorno, Paul de Man - in order to reveal an ever-shifting preoccupation with autonomy. Drawing on Bourdieu's sociology, formalist reading, and historical contextualization, this book demonstrates the importance of autonomy to modernist themes as varied as domestic service, artistic aging, expat life, and non-referentiality No aspect of modernist literature has attracted more passionate defenses, or more furious denunciations, than its affinity for the idea of autonomy. A belief in art as a law unto itself is central to the work of many writers from the late nineteenth century to the present. But is this belief just a way of denying art's social contexts, its roots in the lives of its creators, its political and ethical obligations?__Fictions of Autonomy__Nothing less than an argument for a wholesale revision of the assumptions of modernist studies, is also an intervention in literary theory. This book shows why anyone interested in literary history, the sociology of culture, and aesthetics needs to take account of the social, stylistic, and political significance of the problem, and the potential, of autonomy. 'fictions Of Autonomy' Presents A Revisionary Account Of Aesthetic Autonomy And Transnational Modernism With A Range Of Readings That Includes Works By Wilde, Eliot, Joyce, Barnes, And Stevens Alongside Writings By Theorists Like Adorno And De Man. Introduction -- An Institutional Approach -- Autonomy From Labor -- Autonomy From The Person -- Expatriation As Autonomy -- Literature Without External Reference -- Epilogue: Autonomy Now. Andrew Goldstone. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Nothing less than an argument for a wholesale revision of the assumptions of modernist studies, Fictions of Autonomy is also an intervention in literary theory. This book shows why anyone interested in literary history, the sociology of culture, and aesthetics needs to take account of the social, stylistic, and political significance of the problem, and the potential, of autonomy."--pub. desc