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This monograph is the first academic work to apply a neo-Marxist approach to 20th-century Canadian social realist novels, pursuing a refreshingly (neo-)Marxist approach to such issues as Bakhtinian notions of the novelistic form and dialogism as applied to Canadian socio-political novels influenced by various socialisms, socialist-feminist concerns, economic and sexual politics, and the genre of social realism. In so doing, it demonstrates that Marxist socialism is as relevant today as it was in the 1930s, just as social realist novels continue to thrive as a critique of capitalism. Readers will find valuable insights into the social significance, formal innovations, moral sensitivity, aesthetic enrichment, and ideological complexity of Canadian social realist novels.
List of contents
PART ONE (Neo-)Marxist Approach, History, and Beginnings: Marxist Socialism and Canadian Social Realist Novels.- Chapter 1 Introduction: Reality, Realism and (Neo-)Marxist Definitions and Paradigms.- Chapter 2 Reinterpreting History from a (Neo-)Marxist Perspective: Social, Intellectual, and Literary Background.- Chapter 3 Early Beginnings of "Violent Duality": From Prairie Realism to Urban Social Realism in Durkin's The Magpie.- PART TWO Theory, Urban Alienation, Sex, Politics: Socialism and Canadian Social Realist Novel.- Chapter 1 Theorizing English-Canadian Social Realism.- Chapter 2 Metropolis in Contrast with Cabbagetown: Callaghan's They Shall Inherit the Earth and Garner's Cabbagetown.- PART THREE Industrialization, Class Struggle, and Decolonization.- Chapter 1 Introduction.- Chapter 2 From Vision and Ideal to Strategy and Reality.- Chapter 3 Class, Capital, and the Case of CanLit Par Excellence.- Conclusion.- (Neo-)Marxist Glossary
Summary
This monograph is the first academic work to apply a neo-Marxist approach to 20th-century Canadian social realist novels, pursuing a refreshingly (neo-)Marxist approach to such issues as Bakhtinian notions of the novelistic form and dialogism as applied to Canadian socio-political novels influenced by various socialisms, socialist-feminist concerns, economic and sexual politics, and the genre of social realism. In so doing, it demonstrates that Marxist socialism is as relevant today as it was in the 1930s, just as social realist novels continue to thrive as a critique of capitalism. Readers will find valuable insights into the social significance, formal innovations, moral sensitivity, aesthetic enrichment, and ideological complexity of Canadian social realist novels.
