Literature Incorporated

The Cultural Unconscious of the Business Corporation, 1650-1850

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, British, American
Cover of the book Literature Incorporated by John O'Brien, University of Chicago Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: John O'Brien ISBN: 9780226291260
Publisher: University of Chicago Press Publication: December 29, 2015
Imprint: University of Chicago Press Language: English
Author: John O'Brien
ISBN: 9780226291260
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Publication: December 29, 2015
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Language: English

Long before Citizens United and modern debates over corporations as people, such organizations already stood between the public and private as both vehicles for commerce and imaginative constructs based on groups of individuals. In this book, John O’Brien explores how this relationship played out in economics and literature, two fields that gained prominence in the same era.

Examining British and American essays, poems, novels, and stories from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries, O’Brien pursues the idea of incorporation as a trope discernible in a wide range of texts. Key authors include John Locke, Eliza Haywood, Harriet Martineau, and Edgar Allan Poe, and each chapter is oriented around a type of corporation reflected in their works, such as insurance companies or banks. In exploring issues such as whether sentimental interest is the same as economic interest, these works bear witness to capitalism’s effect on history and human labor, desire, and memory. This period’s imaginative writing, O’Brien argues, is where the unconscious of that process left its mark. By revealing the intricate ties between literary models and economic concepts, Literature Incorporated shows us how the business corporation has shaped our understanding of our social world and ourselves.

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

Long before Citizens United and modern debates over corporations as people, such organizations already stood between the public and private as both vehicles for commerce and imaginative constructs based on groups of individuals. In this book, John O’Brien explores how this relationship played out in economics and literature, two fields that gained prominence in the same era.

Examining British and American essays, poems, novels, and stories from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries, O’Brien pursues the idea of incorporation as a trope discernible in a wide range of texts. Key authors include John Locke, Eliza Haywood, Harriet Martineau, and Edgar Allan Poe, and each chapter is oriented around a type of corporation reflected in their works, such as insurance companies or banks. In exploring issues such as whether sentimental interest is the same as economic interest, these works bear witness to capitalism’s effect on history and human labor, desire, and memory. This period’s imaginative writing, O’Brien argues, is where the unconscious of that process left its mark. By revealing the intricate ties between literary models and economic concepts, Literature Incorporated shows us how the business corporation has shaped our understanding of our social world and ourselves.

More books from University of Chicago Press

Cover of the book The Arc of War by John O'Brien
Cover of the book Costa Rican Ecosystems by John O'Brien
Cover of the book Theater of the Mind by John O'Brien
Cover of the book The TVs of Tomorrow by John O'Brien
Cover of the book Artistic License by John O'Brien
Cover of the book Why Ecology Matters by John O'Brien
Cover of the book Tuhami by John O'Brien
Cover of the book Mastering Iron by John O'Brien
Cover of the book Is the Cemetery Dead? by John O'Brien
Cover of the book Network Aesthetics by John O'Brien
Cover of the book International Bankruptcy by John O'Brien
Cover of the book Galileo's Instruments of Credit by John O'Brien
Cover of the book Golden Rule by John O'Brien
Cover of the book Critical Terms for Animal Studies by John O'Brien
Cover of the book The Supreme Court Review, 2012 by John O'Brien
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