Masculinities, Modernist Fiction and the Urban Public Sphere

by McCracken, Scott

• ISBN13: 9780719044847
• ISBN10: 0719044847
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2013-03-31
• Publisher: MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY PRESS

Summary

At the turn of the last century the public culture of Europe's cities underwent a transformation that changed both gender relations and European fiction. Masculinities, Modernist Fiction and the Urban Public Sphere charts the changing representations of masculinity in modernist fiction in the context of the four most influential cities London, Dublin, Paris and Prague. It explores the rise of new masculinities in response to the New Woman at the end of the nineteenth century; how eating and drinking in the city were developed; and discusses the importance of teashops, cafés and restaurants to the emergence of a new literary culture at the turn of the century. Authors discussed include George Gissing, Dorothy Richardson, James Joyce and Franz Kafka.It combines urban cultural history, gender studies and critical theory to produce a startling account of the encounters that took place in the new spaces of the city and the literary forms to which they gave rise. It will be of interest to all those interested in modernist fiction, but equally to cultural historians and those working in gender and urban studies.

Author Biography

Scott McCracken is Professor of English Literature at Keele University.

Table of Contents

IntroductionPART I: NEW WOMEN, NEW MEN1. George Gissing, Urban Modernity and Modernism2. Dorothy Richardson and New Woman Fiction3. Going up in Mmoke: Mr Richardson4. Fathers and Cities5. On the Threshold: Franz Kafka6. Journeys Through the City: James JoycePART II: BODIES7. Bodily Innervation: Food, Eating and the Everyday8. George Gissing and the Cultural Politics of Food9. Smoking and Consumption10. Dietetics and Aesthetics11. Lestrygonians: A Place to EatPART III: CITIES12. Phantasmagoria and the public sphere13. Teashop Dreams14. Gissing and eating out15. Modernism's ABC16. Miriam, Teashops and the Industrialised Public Sphere17: Kafka, Masculinity and the Public SphereBibliography