According to the dominant tradition of literary criticism; the novel is the form par excellence of the private individual. Empty Houses challenges this consensus by reexamining the genres development from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century and exploring what has until now seemed an anomaly--the frustrated theatrical ambitions of major novelists. Offering new interpretations of the careers of William Makepeace Thackeray; George Eliot; Henry James; James Joyce; and James Baldwin--writers known for mapping ever-narrower interior geographies--this book argues that the genres inward-looking tendency has been misunderstood. Delving into the critical role of the theater in the origins of the novel of interiority; David Kurnick reinterprets the novel as a record of dissatisfaction with inwardness and an injunction to rethink human identity in radically collective and social terms. Exploring neglected texts in order to reread canonical ones; Kurnick shows that the theatrical ambitions of major novelists had crucial formal and ideological effects on their masterworks. Investigating a key stretch of each of these novelistic careers; he establishes the theatrical genealogy of some of the signal techniques of narrative interiority. In the process he illustrates how the novel is marked by a hunger for palpable collectivity; and argues that the genres discontents have been a shaping force in its evolution. A groundbreaking rereading of the novel; Empty Houses provides new ways to consider the novelistic imagination.
#2283708 in eBooks 2011-04-21 2011-04-21File Name: B005X63SI2
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. A tent rep or medicine show fan will like thisBy Arkansas RedWritten by a real "trouper". this book tells it like it is. A fine true story of "life on the road" back in the days of the traveling tent rep and medicine show. Highly recommended.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. A peek into early 1900 entertainment in rural America.By SwidogThe Sawdust Heart reveals the nature of the beating hearts and minds of Americans living in the rural northwestern states in the pre and post WW l years. The primary character. Henry Wood was born in 1898.His report on the nature of entertainment. medicine. and alternative economic opportunities available to those people is gripping. It clearly illustrates the culture of those times so different from today. It touches on the sentiments embraced by the culture regarding alcohol. suffrage. hobos. entertainment. and transportation. The heart of the story is Henry Woods life-narrative taped by Mike Fedo after the death of Henrys wife.Henry tells what motivated him to leave an abusive father in his agrarian home at 12 years of age. He departed by rail to join a traveling Tent-stage Show initially working as a roustabout and earning the right to become an actor in the drama. minstrel. comedy. and musical troupe. He was introduced to the magic and sale of the medical elixirs of those days. His love of the profession claimed his interest throughout his entire life. He kept his family cared for by expanding his employment opportunities by learning the basics of being an electrician in spite of never completing elementary school.As is said in show business. I found this historical offering..."Simply marvelous!3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. A voice from the past brought to lifeBy Dan KossoffHenry Woods remarkable life is wonderfully captured by Michael Fedo in this engaging. breezy and frequently hilarious memoir. It will appeal greatly to those of us who. at some point in our lives. yearned to either run away and join the circus. head out to make a career in Hollywood or hit the road with guitar and mouth harp in hand. Fedo is pitch-perfect in bringing Woods personality to the fore and he moves the narrative forward quickly and entertainingly - pretty much like those old medicine and tent shows must have been. Wish I had been there!
