Making Liberalism New: American Intellectuals, Modern Literature, and the Rewriting of a Political Tradition (Hopkins Studies in Modernism)

**A revisionist history of American liberalism, from the Great Depression to the Cold War.** In __Making Liberalism New__, Ian Afflerbach traces the rise, revision, and fall of a modern liberalism in the United States, establishing this intellectual culture as distinct from classical predecessors as well as the neoliberalism that came to power by century's end. Drawing on a diverse archive that includes political philosophy, legal texts, studies of moral psychology, government propaganda, and presidential campaign materials, Afflerbach also delves into works by Tess Slesinger, Richard Wright, James Agee, John Dewey, Lionel Trilling, and Vladimir Nabokov. Throughout the book, he shows how a reciprocal pattern of influence between modernist literature and liberal intellectuals helped drive the remarkable writing and rewriting of this keyword in American political life. From the 1930s into the 1960s, Afflerbach writes, modern American fiction exposed and interrogated central concerns in liberal culture, such as corporate ownership, reproductive rights, color-blind law, the tragic limits of social documentary, and the dangerous allure of a heroic style in political leaders. In response, liberal intellectuals borrowed key values from modernist culture―irony, tragedy, style―to reimagine the meaning and ambitions of American liberalism. Drawing together political theory and literary history, __Making Liberalism New__ argues that the rise of American liberal culture helped direct the priorities of modern literature. At the same time, it explains how the ironies of narrative form offer an ideal medium for readers to examine conceptual problems in liberal thought. These problems―from the abortion debate to the scope of executive power―remain an indelible feature of American politics. A revisionist history of American liberalism, from the Great Depression to the Cold War. Finalist of the MSA First Book Prize by The Modernist Studies Association In Making Liberalism New , Ian Afflerbach traces the rise, revision, and fall of a modern liberalism in the United States, establishing this intellectual culture as distinct from classical predecessors as well as the neoliberalism that came to power by century's end. Drawing on a diverse archive that includes political philosophy, legal texts, studies of moral psychology, government propaganda, and presidential campaign materials, Afflerbach also delves into works by Tess Slesinger, Richard Wright, James Agee, John Dewey, Lionel Trilling, and Vladimir Nabokov. Throughout the book, he shows how a reciprocal pattern of influence between modernist literature and liberal intellectuals helped drive the remarkable writing and rewriting of this keyword in American political life. From the 1930s into the 1960s, Afflerbach writes, modern American fiction exposed and interrogated central concerns in liberal culture, such as corporate ownership, reproductive rights, color-blind law, the tragic limits of social documentary, and the dangerous allure of a heroic style in political leaders. In response, liberal intellectuals borrowed key values from modernist culture—irony, tragedy, style—to reimagine the meaning and ambitions of American liberalism. Drawing together political theory and literary history, Making Liberalism New argues that the rise of American liberal culture helped direct the priorities of modern literature. At the same time, it explains how the ironies of narrative form offer an ideal medium for readers to examine conceptual problems in liberal thought. These problems—from the abortion debate to the scope of executive power—remain an indelible feature of American politics.

A revisionist history of American liberalism, from the Great Depression to the Cold War.

In Making Liberalism New, Ian Afflerbach traces the rise, revision, and fall of a modern liberalism in the United States, establishing this intellectual culture as distinct from classical predecessors as well as the neoliberalism that came to power by century's end. Drawing on a diverse archive that includes political philosophy, legal texts, studies of moral psychology, government propaganda, and presidential campaign materials, Afflerbach also delves into works by Tess Slesinger, Richard Wright, James Agee, John Dewey, Lionel Trilling, and Vladimir Nabokov. Throughout the book, he shows how a reciprocal pattern of influence between modernist literature and liberal intellectuals helped drive the remarkable writing and rewriting of this keyword in American political life.

From the 1930s into the 1960s, Afflerbach writes, modern American fiction exposed and interrogated central concerns in liberal culture, such as corporate ownership, reproductive rights, color-blind law, the tragic limits of social documentary, and the dangerous allure of a heroic style in political leaders. In response, liberal intellectuals borrowed key values from modernist culture—irony, tragedy, style—to reimagine the meaning and ambitions of American liberalism.

Drawing together political theory and literary history, Making Liberalism New argues that the rise of American liberal culture helped direct the priorities of modern literature. At the same time, it explains how the ironies of narrative form offer an ideal medium for readers to examine conceptual problems in liberal thought. These problems—from the abortion debate to the scope of executive power—remain an indelible feature of American politics.

In "Making liberalism new", Ian Afflerbach traces the rise, revision, and fall of a modern liberalism in the United States, establishing this intellectual culture as distinct from classical predecessors as well as the neoliberalism that came to power by century's end. Drawing on a diverse archive that includes political philosophy, legal texts, studies of moral psychology, government propaganda, and presidential campaign materials, Afflerbach also delves into works by Tess Slesinger, Richard Wright, James Agee, John Dewey, Lionel Trilling, and Vladimir Nabokov. Throughout the book, he shows how a reciprocal pattern of influence between modernist literature and liberal intellectuals helped drive the remarkable writing and rewriting of this keyword in American political life. From the 1930s into the 1960s, Afflerbach writes, modern American fiction exposed and interrogated central concerns in liberal culture, such as corporate ownership, reproductive rights, color-blind law, the tragic limits of social documentary, and the dangerous allure of a heroic style in political leaders. In response, liberal intellectuals borrowed key values from modernist culture, irony, tragedy, style, to reimagine the meaning and ambitions of American liberalism. Drawing together political theory and literary history, Making Liberalism New argues that the rise of American liberal culture helped direct the priorities of modern literature. At the same time, it explains how the ironies of narrative form offer an ideal medium for readers to examine conceptual problems in liberal thought. These problems, from the abortion debate to the scope of executive power, remain an indelible feature of American politics Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title 4 Copyright 5 Contents 6 Acknowledgments 8 Introduction 14 What We Talk About When We Talk About Liberalism 14 Modern Literature and Liberal Politics 20 The Discursive Origins of American Liberalism 27 Making Liberalism New 36 I A Liberal Modernism 44 1. Liberalism Incorporated: Intellectuals, Abortion, and the Critique of Possessive Individualism 46 Tess Slesinger’s Intellectuals and the Problems of Possession 50 Wombs or Women? 59 Modernism’s Party Politics 70 After the Party 76 2. Racial Liberalism: Native Son and the Problem of “Color-Blind” Law 80 Social Psychology and the American Dilemma 84 Color-Blind Justice 90 Individualism and Reactionary Color Blindness 100 Things Not Seen 109 II A Modern Liberalism 114 3. The Inward Turn: Tragedy, Documentary, and the Making of the Postwar Liberal Imagination 116 Let Us Not Praise Liberal Documentary 120 Lionel Trilling and the Tragic Liberal Imagination 128 Taking Tragedy to the White House 136 Arthur Miller and the Ends of Tragedy 143 4. Ending in Style: JFK, Nabokov, and the Apotheosis of a Liberal Aesthetic 150 Totalitarianism and the Democratic Character 155 Intellectual Style in an Age of Abundance 163 Lolita and the Liberal Ironist 172 “Liberal Totalitarianism” and the Problem of the Presidency 181 Conclusion: What’s Left of Liberalism? (or What’s So New about Neoliberalism?) 188 Notes 198 Bibliography 248 Index 276 A 276 B 277 C 277 D 279 E 279 F 279 G 280 H 280 I 281 J 281 K 281 L 281 M 282 N 283 O 284 P 284 R 284 S 285 T 286 U 287 V 287 W 287 Y 288 "This book maps the rise of a modern liberal culture in the United States from the 1930s to the 1960s. It shows how modern fiction writers responded to central concerns in liberal political thought, such as corporate ownership, reproductive rights, colorblind law, and presidential character"-- Provided by publisher