The Moderate Imagination: The Political Thought of John Updike and the Decline o

Description: The Moderate Imagination by Yoav Fromer Taps archival materials and unread works from John Updikes college years to offer a clearer view of his acute political thought and ideas. Updikes prescient literary imagination, Fromer shows, sensed the disappointments and alienation of rural white working- and middle-class Americans decades before conservatives sought to exploit them. FORMAT Hardcover LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description In the aftermath of Donald Trumps victory in 2016, Americans finally faced a perplexing political reality: Democrats, purported champions of working people since the New Deal, had lost the white, working-class voters of Middle America. For answers about how this could be, Yoav Fromer turns to an unlikely source: the fiction of John Updike. Though commonly viewed as an East Coast chronicler of suburban angst, the gifted writer (in fact a native of the quintessential rust-belt state, Pennsylvania) was also an ardent man of ideas, political ideas whose fiction, Fromer tells us, should be read not merely as a reflection of the postwar era, but rather as a critical investigation into the liberal culture that helped define it.Several generations of Americans since the 1960s have increasingly felt left behind. In Updikes early work, Fromer finds a fictional map of the failures of liberalism that might explain these grievances. The Moderate Imagination also taps previously unknown archival materials and unread works from his college years at Harvard to offer a clearer view of the authors acute political thought and ideas. Updikes prescient literary imagination, Fromer shows, sensed the disappointments and alienation of rural white working- and middle-class Americans decades before conservatives sought to exploit them. In his writing, he traced liberalisms historic decline to its own philosophical contradictions rather than to only commonly cited external circumstances like the Vietnam War, racial strife, economic recession, and conservative backlash.A subtle reinterpretation of John Updikes legacy, Fromers work complicates and enriches our understanding of one of the twentieth centurys great American writers - even as the book deftly demonstrates what literature can teach us about politics and history. Author Biography Yoav Fromer is director of the Center for the Study of the United States in partnership with the Fulbright Program and a fellow in the School of Government at Tel Aviv University. He is a senior editor and columnist at Yedioth Ahronoth Daily Newspaper, and his writing has also appeared in the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Newsweek, New Republic, and Tablet Magazine. Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction 1. The Man in the Middle 2. The Liberal Education of John Updike 3. The Poorhouse Fair: The Liberal State and Its Discontents 4. Family Matters: Therapeutic Liberalism, Consumer Capitalism, and the Decline of the Family in Rabbit, Run 5. Sleepign Together, Bowling Alone: Couples and the Decline of Civic Engagement 6. Things Dont Mix: Rabit Redux and the Unraveling of Postwar Liberalism Conclusion: Liberalism Redux Notes Bibliography Index Review John Updike has long been acknowledged as one of the great American novelists of the twentieth century, even while his political insights have consistently been underappreciated. Yoav Fromes The Moderate Imagination delivers an important new understanding of Updikes political instincts and vision. This fuller and more rounded picture of Updikes literary intentions and his social and political insights will benefit even the experts." - Cal Jillson, author of The American Dream: In History, Politics, and Fiction"John Updike has long been regarded as one of Americas great writers, but one whose domain was largely American domesticity. Fromers book builds a compelling case for Updike also being one of Americas great prescient writers - one who anticipated the current political state of events more than fifty years ago. More than anything, Fromer writes, Updikes writings help illustrate the fundamental inability of more and more Americans to grasp, let alone cope with, profound transformations they could neither understand nor control. This is a smart book that reads at times like the academic equivalent of a real page-turner." - James Plath, author of Conversations with John Updike and John Updikes Pennsylvania Interviews and R. Forrest Colwell Endowed Chair & Professor of English, Illinois Wesleyan University Review Quote "John Updike has long been acknowledged as one of the great American novelists of the twentieth century, even while his political insights have consistently been underappreciated. Yoav Fromers The Moderate Imagination delivers an important new understanding of Updikes political instincts and vision. This fuller and more rounded picture of Updikes literary intentions and his social and political insights will benefit even the experts."-- Cal Jillson , author of The American Dream: In History, Politics, and Fiction "John Updike has long been regarded as one of Americas great writers, but one whose domain was largely American domesticity. Fromers book builds a compelling case for Updike also being one of Americas great prescient writers--one who anticipated the current political state of events more than fifty years ago. More than anything, Fromer writes, Updikes writings help illustrate the fundamental inability of more and more Americans to grasp, let alone cope with, profound transformations they could neither understand nor control. This is a smart book that reads at times like the academic equivalent of a real page-turner."-- James Plath , author of Conversations with John Updike and John Updikes Pennsylvania Interviews and R. Forrest Colwell Endowed Chair & Professor of English, Illinois Wesleyan University "I thoroughly enjoyed The Moderate Imagination: The Political Thought of John Updike and the Decline of New Deal Liberalism . Yoav Fromers point that John Updike grappled early on with the idea that New Deal liberalism could not survive the complications it created is very compelling. Fromers book makes a strong case for a revision of US political development as it has often been portrayed over the last five decades. The book successfully juxtaposes political events with Updikes literary work and his relationships with political people. This book will stimulate fresh discussions on topics such as Putnams understanding of the decline of civil society and the impact of 1968 on American politics."-- Leah A. Murray , PhD, Brady Presidential Distinguished Professor, political science and philosophy, Weber State University " The Moderate Imagination is one of the most illuminating and useful critical works Ive read on John Updike. Most significantly, it alters the common misperception that Updike was simply a domestic novelist. Fromer persuasively argues that Updike was an acute political thinker whose domestic realm was shaped by history, economics, media, and culture."-- James Schiff , editor of the John Updike Review and professor of English and Comparative Literature, University of Cincinnati New Feature Acknowledgments Introduction 1. The Man in the Middle 2. The Liberal Education of John Updike 3. The Poorhouse Fair: The Liberal State and Its Discontents 4. Family Matters: Therapeutic Liberalism, Consumer Capitalism, and the Decline of the Family in Rabbit, Run 5. Sleepign Together, Bowling Alone: Couples and the Decline of Civic Engagement 6. Things Dont Mix: Rabit Redux and the Unraveling of Postwar Liberalism Conclusion: Liberalism Redux Notes Bibliography Index Details ISBN0700629521 Author Yoav Fromer Pages 288 Year 2020 ISBN-10 0700629521 ISBN-13 9780700629527 Format Hardcover Short Title The Moderate Imagination Language English Subtitle The Political Thought of John Updike and the Decline of New Deal Liberalism Imprint University Press of Kansas Place of Publication Kansas Country of Publication United States AU Release Date 2020-05-07 NZ Release Date 2020-05-07 Publication Date 2020-05-30 UK Release Date 2020-05-30 Publisher University Press of Kansas DEWEY 813.54 Audience Professional & Vocational US Release Date 2020-05-30 We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:127279158;

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