Details

Subject(s)

• American fiction—19th century—History and criticism [Browse]
• Material culture in literature [Browse]
• Economics and literature—United States—History—19th century [Browse]
• Material culture—United States—History—19th century [Browse]
• Production (Economic theory) in literature [Browse]
• Consumption (Economics) in literature [Browse]
• Possessiveness in literature [Browse]

Related name

• ProQuest (Firm) [Browse]

Summary note

"Brown's new study explores the roots of modern America's fascination with things and the problem that objects posed for American literature at the turn of the century. This was an era when the invention, production, distribution, and consumption of things suddenly came to define a national culture. Brown shows how crucial novels of the time made things not a solution to problems, but problems in their own right. Writers such as Mark Twain, Frank Norris, Sarah Orne Jewett, and Henry James ask why and how we use objects to make meaning, to make or remake ourselves, to organize our anxieties and affections, to sublimate our fears, and to shape our wildest dreams. Offering a remarkably new way to think about materialism. A Sense of Things will be essential reading for anyone interested in American literature and culture."--Jacket.

Bibliographic references

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Reproduction note

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI Available via World Wide Web.

Source of description

Online resource; title from PDF title page (EBSCO, viewed May 17, 2018)

Contents

• The idea of things and the ideas in them
• The tyranny of things
• The nature of things
• Regional artifacts
• The decoration of houses
• The death and life of things : modernity and modernism.

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ISBN

• 9780226076317 ((electronic bk.))
• 0226076318 ((electronic bk.))

Statement on language in description

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