Writing in pain : literature, history, and the culture of denial

Bringing poststructuralist theories of discourse into dialogue with biologically and culturally informed models of pain and affect, this book explores the representation of traumatic historical events such as war and revolution in literary texts by Flaubert, Baudelaire, and Zola. Focusing on the rising industrial capitalism of early modern France, Vaheed Ramanzani considers how the patterns of thought and practice developed during that period inflect a contemporary "culture of denial" and critiques the symbiosis between everyday forms of language and mass irruptions of violence. Bringing Poststructuralist Theories Of Discourse Into Dialogue With Biologically And Culturally Informed Models Of Pain And Affect, This Book Explores The Representation Of Traumatic Historical Events Such As War And Revolution In Literary Texts By Flaubert, Baudelaire, And Zola. Focusing On The Rising Industrial Capitalism Of Early Modern France, Vaheed Ramazani Considers How The Patterns Of Thought And Practice Developed During That Period Inflect A Contemporary Culture Of Denial And Critiques The Symbiosis Between Everyday Forms Of Language And Mass Irruptions Of Violence.--jacket. Part I -- Neural Communities -- The Mother Of All Things: War Reason And The Gendering Of Pain -- Part Ii -- Overwriting History: Irony And The Sublime In L'education Sentimentale -- Writing In Pain: Baudelaire, Benjamin, Haussman -- Reproducing Women: Nationalism And Natality In Au Bonheur Des -- Dames. Vaheed Ramazani. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [139]-182) And Index. This book argues that while pain is an irreducible neuro-physiological phenomenon, how pain is experienced is powerfully inflected by language and culture. Using Second Empire France after Napoleon III's seizure of power as a particularly revealing time of re-acculturation, it elaborates on the "culture of denial."