The novel of human rights /James Dawes.
- Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, (c)2018.
- 1 online resource
Includes bibliographies and index.
The US novel of human rights -- The central features of the novel of human rights -- Ethical concerns in the novel of human rights -- Perpetrators in the novel of human rights.
This book identifies the centers of aesthetic gravity that pull texts together into a new genre: namely, the novel of human rights. What connective structures and recurring concerns can be discerned at this early stage in the development of the genre? How do its ethical pressures generate formal patterns and, in turn, how do its formal patterns generate ethical pressures? And finally, since both the textual and political forms are rapidly evolving, what can this rising genre teach us about the near futures of literature and literary studies? While rigorously attending to form, The Novel of Human Rights addresses the key developments and debates of the contemporary human rights movement, revealing how human rights work has shaped the aesthetic concerns of novelists and how those same aesthetic concerns have affected human rights work. Writers of interest span a wide range, countable in the dozens. Some of those who receive extended attention include John Edgar Wideman, Susan Choi, Dave Eggers, Francisco Goldman, and Edwidge Danticat.--
9780674986459
Discourse analysis, Literary--United States. Human rights in literature. Literature and morals--United States. Fiction genres. Aesthetics.