The Business of America : The Cultural Production of a Post-War Nation

The Business of America examines the complex linking of business and nationhood in post-war United States literature against the backdrop of changing concepts of the nation in the field of American Studies. The first part of the book examines how white male literary culture has been largely hostile to business during this period and how it has represented transnational shifts in the nature of business as threats to supposedly American values like the individual, the family, or freedom. The book charts the way that such an uneasiness towards business relies upon a discourse about America, business and empire that is increasingly untenable in the post-war world. By way of comparison, The Business of America looks at how literature by women and by writers from different racial, ethnic and sexual groups often deals with business from the more localised angle of work. Graham Thompson shows how this attention to work provides a less abstract and more oppositional approach to the connection between business and America. Graham Thompson examines how white male literary culture has been largely hostile to business during this period, marking out an emotional field in which white men struggle with the disturbing experience of increasingly transnational shifts in business culture -- shifts that are seen to threaten supposedly American values like the individual, the family, and freedom. The book charts the way that such uneasiness relies upon a discourse about America, business and empire that is increasingly untenable in the post-war world. In contrast, literature by women and by writers from different racial, ethnic and sexual groups often provides a less abstract approach to business, concentrating on the more localised experience of work. Thompson explores how these dual lines of development shed light not only on the transnational cultural condition, but also on the way that American Studies emerged as a discipline after the second world war -- as an attempt to bind together the study of nationhood, business and cultural production. Contents......Page 5 Acknowledgements......Page 6 Introduction......Page 7 Part I: White Male Literary Culture......Page 31 1 Errands in the Post- War/ Cold War Jungle......Page 33 2 Entropy, Postmodernism and Global Systems......Page 59 3 Postnational Recovery Narratives and Beyond......Page 80 Part II: The Difference of Gender, Race and Sexuality......Page 107 4 Objectivist Fantasies and the Industry of Writing and Piracy......Page 109 5 Assimilation, Citizenship and Post-Ethnicity......Page 131 6 Queer Profits and Losses......Page 155 Notes......Page 178 Index......Page 191 White Male Literary Culture -- Errands In The Post-war/cold War Jungle -- Entropy, Postmodernism And Global Systems -- Postnational Recovery Narratives And Beyond -- The Difference Of Gender, Race And Sexuality -- Objectivist Fantasies And The Industry Of Writing And Piracy -- Assimilation, Citizenship And Post-ethnicity -- Queer Profits And Losses. Graham Thompson. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Explores the way business is portrayed in American culture and examines the emergence of cultural studies as a discipline.