Reviews for The radical novel in the United States, 1900-1954

The average rating for The radical novel in the United States, 1900-1954 based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-10-15 00:00:00 Robert Keene This is an excellent book. I like reading it for its style. I give it 5 stars for its scholarship. I disliked it for its politics, that in a very subtle way embraces Trumpism ( in a Harvard style)). However, I am not sure of its content and the kind of politics the book backs. She writes about nostalgia in great detail. This makes the book an interesting read. What irritates me is that she writes about certain specific nostalgias. As if nostalgia is something that only happens to immigrants– to certain types of immigrants, of a certain period. In the context of America, for instance, she mentions first and second wave migrants and states how the second generations seek their roots (unfettered by Visa restrictions). While this makes sense in a European context, the term first wave immigrants is ironical in regards to America. Who is not an immigrant in America? So she applies nostalgia and its very nuanced theories to certain types– so the knowledge around nostalgia is constructed through very specific kinds of immigrant experience. For instance, nostalgia is not something that has ever bothered immigrants from Scandinavia and Great Britain to America. She is more interested in the world from 1960 onwards. Though she talks about Russia and its (white)authors, the nostalgia theory only seems to fix the undesirable (coloured) immigrants. Of course it is not stated in the book as thus. However, this dimension runs throughout the book– right from its exciting Introduction. In the age that seeks death of democracy and deglobalization ( because globalization cannot give more, and the west does not like monsters like China and India.) This book embraces the contemporary politics, or rather spawns it. It is this that I did not like about the book–her politics. Very carefully couched in nostalgia theory that objectified and used only certain people, groups, and communities.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-07-04 00:00:00 Craig Olson This is going to break you brains this one. I have to read a page and then think, and then read a page, and then stare into space and contemplate some shit. Anyone who quotes Walter Benjamin, and Donald Winnicott in the same book should get a star. You know how awesome theories and musings on nostalgia are? Pretty fucking awesome.