Dick Hebdige on postmodernism

An excellent essay on postmodernism by Dick Hebdige, originally from Marxism Today (January 1989).

"New Times: After the Masses "

"Postmodernism is all the rage. But what does it mean? Dick Hebdige explores its relationship with New Times and argues that it poses a fundamental challenge for the Left." [more]

Levine wiki

The Levine wiki is up! Go to the wiki and read the instructions. Begin writing and publishing. Enjoy!

Styling the working class

In our latest episode of literature and labor, we've looked at narratives about: white ethnic longshoremen (On the Waterfront); chicano steelworkers and their families (Music of the Mill); black female domestic workers (Blanche on the Lam). The texts speak to the varieties of working-class experience.

Yet in each case, the authors of these texts have also chosen different narrative styles or forms to represent their working-class subjects: post-noir neo-realism in On the Waterfront; the multiply narrated family saga of Music of the Mills; and the popular detective plot of Blanche on the Lam.

Your goal in this assignment is to argue for how and why one particular formal choice works better than the others. That is, does Kazan's neo-realist melodrama do a better job of representing the working class than Neely's detective narrative? How does your chosen form enable the writer to reveal new or unremarked aspects of working-class experience? What does the form imply about the author's stance toward his or her subject? What does it reveal about the author's sense of purpose - - i.e. what he or she wants to happen to the audience? What aspects of his or her subject might the author's formal choices ignore or push to the background?

You might start thinking about this assignment by just thinking about which of the three narratives' style you like best. Then, how this style or form affects his or her representation of the working class.

No more than two pages, typed. No errors (typographical, punctuation, etc.).

Due: Tuesday, November 18, 2:10 p.m.

Questions, concerns, consternations: email me at hanley@bway.net.

The Promised Land . . .

(Click on the picture above for a short video intro to the Great Migration)

As I mentioned on Thursday, I think it would be a good idea to look at Blood on the Forge as one version of a much broader and familiar narrative of the Great Migration. Let's try to understand how Attaway's novel works within and against this bigger narrative by looking at some of the other texts of the Great Migration. Browse the links below to get a better grasp of the context for Blood on the Forge. As you look through these materials ask yourselves some questions: what similarities to Attaway (in plot, character, theme) do you see? How does Attaway read and write the (characters, plots, themes of) the Great Migration narrative in new or different ways?

You might start here for a good overview of the Great Migration (and its sequel). Another good overview, including images and sounds, can be found on the American Social History website.

Many everyday people wrote their own versions of the narrative. You can find some examples here and here and here.

The Great Migration transformed many Northern cities, including Chicago. The Library of Congress offers some images, documents, and narratives about life in the "Promised Land" of Southside Chicago. And you can find a great introduction to the landscape of Chicago's "Bronzeville" here. Harlem was, of course, another rich destination for migrants. The famous "Harlem Number" edition of the 1925 Survey Graphic is one fruit of the Migration.

One of the richest and most beautiful documents of the Great Migration is Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series.

Perhaps the most popular medium for African-Americans to think about the migration northward was the blues. The blues sang the meaning of the migration in several registers, from joy to sadness. You can listen to some blues here and here, and you can read some blues lyrics here.

Proletarian literature

Here's a link to the proletarian literature texts we'll be looking at for Tuesday, September 30. (Sorry for the delay - - technical glitches in getting the stuff online.) The short stories and Wright poem are from Proletarian Literature in the United States, an anthology of stuff from the proletarian literature movement. You can also check out an online version of Joseph Freeman's introduction to the anthology. If you have any trouble accessing the material, do let me know.

Essay #1 Topic

I started out the class by riffing on the various possible relations between literature and labor within the title of our class, "The Literature of Labor." (A riff inspired by James T. Farrell's similar take on the possible meanings of proletarian literature in his A Note on Literary Criticism (1936), pps. 78-79.) The question of how literature and labor are related has also, it seems to me, been a central question in both the major works we've read so far - - Davis's Life in the Iron Mills and London's Martin Eden.

To write this essay:

1) Select either Davis's or London's novel;

2) Think about the following question: To what extent does this work propose a conflict between literature and labor?

(Some other questions that may help to sharpen your thinking: How does this work depict the "class" nature of literature as an institution? What particular conflicts does a working-class desire to write "literature" lead to? What contradictions does a working-class writer of "literature" confront? How does a working-class artist judge his or her success? His or her failure? According to your text, can there ever be such a thing as working-class "literature"? According to your text, can a working-class writer or artist exist? If so, how? If not, why not?)

Your essay should be three pages or less. It should be double-spaced in font no larger than 12 point and no smaller than 11 point. Use examples and quotations to support your argument or interpretation. Proofread your essay - -I'll stop reading the text after the second error (punctuation, typographic, grammatical, or spelling). No emailed essays; the essay must be submitted in hard copy at the beginning of the class on which it's due.

If you have questions, or just want to discuss your ideas, come in and talk with me.

Due date: Thursday, September 30, 2008.

The Word Market

Like his creator, Jack London, Martin Eden's eventual success as a writer depended on the rise of the mass circulation magazine. Industrialized production methods, coupled with new, cheaper forms of distribution revolutionized the mass media in the late 19th century. This medium created new readers, new writers, new genres, and new paths to professional authorship. Some of the pioneering magazines to appear in the late 19th century include Munsey's Magazine, Frank Leslie's Weekly, and McClure's. A pretty good history of this development can be found here.

Mass circulation magazines were the forerunners of today's mass media culture. What other features of this nascent mass media culture do we see in Martin Eden? Pace London's novel, does newly industrialized cultural production create a new "scribbling" proletariat? how does it "industrialize" - - or contribute to the "industrialization" of - - American culture in general?