Precarity in Contemporary Literature and Culture

Description

The contemporary moment is characterized by precarity – an expanding and intensifying vulnerability conditioned by political and economic structures. Using literary and cultural texts to develop a nuanced and critical exploration of the concept of precarity that emphasizes its contemporary manifestations while also attending to its historical roots and existential dimensions, this book examines the vulnerabilities which characterize our anxious existence, including unemployment, environmental crisis, temporary contracts and patterns of migration. Broken down into three key themes of feelings, bodies and time, Precarity in Contemporary Literature and Culture asks whether precarity can be considered a new phenomenon; explores the relationship between precarity and traditional class politics; analyses precarity's global dimensions; and reflects on the links between contemporary crisis and underlying existential human vulnerability. With reference to a wide range of forms such as contemporary, realist, science fiction and modernist novels, film, theatre, and the lyric poem, this book goes beyond one national context to consider texts from the US, UK, Germany and South Africa. Title Page Copyright Page Contents Figures Contributors Acknowledgements Introduction Part One: Feeling Chapter 1: ANXIOUS READING: THE PRECARITY NOVEL AND THE AFFECTIVE CLASS Chapter 2: ANXIETY IN THE PRECARIAT: THE AFFECTS OF CLASS IN JAMES KELMAN’S FICTION Chapter 3: PERFORMING PRECARITY: THREATENING THE AUDIENCE IN GARY OWEN’S IPHIGENIA IN SPLOTT Part Two: Bodies Chapter 4: IMAGINED SOVEREIGNTY: MAPPING AND RESISTING PRECARITY IN INDIRA ALLEGRA’S WOVEN ACCOUNT Chapter 5: PRECARIOUS BODIES ON THE MOVE, PRECARIOUS BODIES UNDER ATTACK Chapter 6: DEATH KNELLS AND DEAD ENDS: LATENT FUTURITY IN MASANDE NTSHANGA’S THE REACTIVE AND MOHALE MASHIGO’S ‘GHOST STRAIN N’ Part Three: Time Chapter 7: PERIODIZATION AND PRECARIOUS LABOUR: THE WORK OF GENRE IN LA LA LAND AND SORRY TO BOTHER YOU Chapter 8: SUBSTANCELESS SUBJECTIVITY: FROM PROLETARIANIZATION TO PRECARIZATION IN BRITISH EXPERIMENTAL FICTION Chapter 9: THE FUTURE IS A GHOST: PRECARITY, ANTICIPATION AND RETROSPECTION IN ANNELIESE MACKINTOSH’S ‘LIMITED DREAMERS’ AND LEE ROURKE’S VULGAR THINGS Chapter 10: MAKE IT NOW: POETRY, PRECARITY AND SECURITY IN JORIE GRAHAM AND GHAYATH ALMADHOUN Chapter 11: FINDING TIME IN COMMON: SPECULATIVE FICTION AND THE PRECARIAT IN ROBINSON’S NEW YORK 2140 Index