Accented America

The Cultural Politics of Multilingual Modernism

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, American, Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Language Arts, Linguistics
Cover of the book Accented America by Joshua L. Miller, Oxford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Joshua L. Miller ISBN: 9780199792672
Publisher: Oxford University Press Publication: April 21, 2011
Imprint: Oxford University Press Language: English
Author: Joshua L. Miller
ISBN: 9780199792672
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication: April 21, 2011
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Language: English

American literary works written in the heyday of modernism between the 1890s and 1940s were playfully, painfully, and ambivalently engaged with language politics. The immigrant waves of the period fed into writers' aesthetic experimentation; their works, in turn, rewired ideas about national identity along with literary form. Accented America looks at the long history of English-Only Americanism-the political claim that U.S. citizens must speak a singular, shared American tongue-and traces its action in the language workshop that is literature. The broadly multi-ethnic set of writers brought into conversation here-including Gertrude Stein, Jean Toomer, Henry Roth, Nella Larsen, John Dos Passos, Lionel Trilling, Américo Paredes, and Carlos Bulosan-reflect the massive demographic shifts taking place during the interwar years. These authors share an acute awareness of linguistic standardization while also following the defamiliarizing sway produced by experimentation with invented and improper literary vernaculars. Rather than confirming the powerfully seductive subtext of monolingualism-that those who speak alike are ethically and politically likeminded-multilingual modernists compose literature that speaks to a country of synthetic syntaxes, singular hybrids, and enduring strangeness.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

American literary works written in the heyday of modernism between the 1890s and 1940s were playfully, painfully, and ambivalently engaged with language politics. The immigrant waves of the period fed into writers' aesthetic experimentation; their works, in turn, rewired ideas about national identity along with literary form. Accented America looks at the long history of English-Only Americanism-the political claim that U.S. citizens must speak a singular, shared American tongue-and traces its action in the language workshop that is literature. The broadly multi-ethnic set of writers brought into conversation here-including Gertrude Stein, Jean Toomer, Henry Roth, Nella Larsen, John Dos Passos, Lionel Trilling, Américo Paredes, and Carlos Bulosan-reflect the massive demographic shifts taking place during the interwar years. These authors share an acute awareness of linguistic standardization while also following the defamiliarizing sway produced by experimentation with invented and improper literary vernaculars. Rather than confirming the powerfully seductive subtext of monolingualism-that those who speak alike are ethically and politically likeminded-multilingual modernists compose literature that speaks to a country of synthetic syntaxes, singular hybrids, and enduring strangeness.

More books from Oxford University Press

Cover of the book Lifestyles and Feeding Biology by Joshua L. Miller
Cover of the book Newspapers - Resource Books for Teachers by Joshua L. Miller
Cover of the book Object Lessons by Joshua L. Miller
Cover of the book The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality by Joshua L. Miller
Cover of the book Austin City Limits by Joshua L. Miller
Cover of the book Little Women Level 4 Oxford Bookworms Library by Joshua L. Miller
Cover of the book After Occupy by Joshua L. Miller
Cover of the book Handbook of Culture and Creativity by Joshua L. Miller
Cover of the book From the Bottom Up by Joshua L. Miller
Cover of the book How Cancer Crossed the Color Line by Joshua L. Miller
Cover of the book What's Good for Business by Joshua L. Miller
Cover of the book Audible States by Joshua L. Miller
Cover of the book Boundaries of Authority by Joshua L. Miller
Cover of the book Yale Textbook of Public Psychiatry by Joshua L. Miller
Cover of the book The Heart of Grief by Joshua L. Miller
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy