In this Book
- From Gift to Commodity: Capitalism and Sacrifice in Nineteenth-Century American Fiction
- Book
- 2012
- Published by: University of New Hampshire Press
- Series: Becoming Modern: New Nineteenth-Century Studies
summary
Fascinating analysis of the significance of the gift, and its increasingly complicated role in an emerging capitalist order, in nineteenth-century American fiction
In this rich interdisciplinary study, Hildegard Hoeller argues that nineteenth-century American culture was driven by and deeply occupied with the tension between gift and market exchange. Rooting her analysis in the period’s fiction, she shows how American novelists from Hannah Foster to Frank Norris grappled with the role of the gift based on trust, social bonds, and faith in an increasingly capitalist culture based on self-interest, market transactions, and economic reason. Placing the notion of sacrifice at the center of her discussion, Hoeller taps into the poignant discourse of modes of exchange, revealing central tensions of American fiction and culture.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Part I: Sacrifices of a Nation
- pp. 19-79
- Part II: Panic Fictions
- pp. 81-170
- Part III: Fading Gifts and Rising Profits
- Bibliography
- pp. 257-271
Additional Information
ISBN
9781611683110
Related ISBN(s)
9781611683073
MARC Record
OCLC
809809899
Pages
296
Launched on MUSE
2012-08-22
Language
English
Open Access
No