Urban confrontations in literature and social science, 1848-2001: European contexts, American evolutions

247 Pages·2016·3.225 MB·English

by  Ahearn, Edward J

Urban Confrontations in Literature
and Social Science, 1848–2001
European Contexts, American Evolutions
Edward J. Ahearn
Urban Confrontations in LiteratUre
and soCiaL sCienCe, 1848–2001
To Michèle
Urban Confrontations in Literature
and social science, 1848–2001
european Contexts, american evolutions
edward J. ahearn
Brown University, USA
© edward J. ahearn 2010
all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
edward J. ahearn has asserted his right under the Copyright, designs and Patents act, 1988, to
be identified as the author of this work.
Published by
ashgate Publishing Limited ashgate Publishing Company
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
ahearn, edward J.
Urban confrontations in literature and social science, 1848–2001: european contexts, american
evolutions.
1. Literature and society. 2. Cities and towns in literature—history—19th century. 3. Cities
and towns in literature—history—20th century. 4. City and town life in literature—history—
19th century. 5. City and town life in literature—history—20th century. 6. sociology, Urban—
History—19th century. 7. Sociology, Urban—History—20th century. 8. American fiction—20th
century—history and criticism. 9. european literature—19th century—history and criticism.
10. european literature— 20th century—history and criticism.
i. title
809.9’3321732—dc22
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
ahearn, edward J.
Urban confrontations in literature and social science, 1848–2001: european contexts, american
evolutions / edward J. ahearn.
p. cm.
includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7546-6882-4 (alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-7546-9538-7 (ebook : alk. paper)
1. Literature and society. 2. sociology, Urban. 3. social science literature. 4. Poverty in literature.
i. title.
Pn51.a33 2010
809’.933552—dc22
2009020926
ISBN 9780754668824 (hbk)
ISBN 9780754695387 (ebk.II)
Contents
Permissions vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Breaking the Glass 1
I ThE hEroISm of moDErn LIfE? BAUDELAIrE, BrEChT
AnD ThE foUnDErS of UrBAn SoCIoLogy
1 City Visions of the Poet and social scientist 9
2 “Let’s Beat Up the Poor!”: Baudelaire on Urban Conflict and the
failure of Policy 27
3 in the Jungle of brecht’s Cities 49
II ChICAgo BLACk AnD WhITE: ImmIgrATIon AnD rACE
In Native SoN AnD the adveNtureS of augie March
introduction to Part ii 67
4 The Native Son We Didn’t (and Still Don’t?) Want to See 75
5 augie’s immigrant adventures 93
III PoWEr, govErnAnCE AnD ThE STrUggLE for
hUmAn rEALIzATIon
introduction to Part iii 115
6 bureaucracy and the Lone City dweller: James Q. wilson—and
Michel foucault—Meet bartleby 121
7 Jazz and The Power Broker: Urban tycoon versus the real Lives
of Ordinary Black People 137
vi Urban Confrontations in Literature and Social Science, 1848–2001
8 immigrant women writing against the Urban regime: The House
on Mango Street and Bone 161
epilogue: deLillo’s Global City 181
Bibliography 205
Index 225
Permissions
I wish to thank the following for permission to quote copyright materials:
Chapter 2 contains excerpts from the The Parisian Prowler by Charles baudelaire,
translated by edward K. Kaplan. Copyright 1989 by edward K. Kaplan. reprinted
by permission of the University of Georgia Press.
Chapter 3 contains excerpts from Jungle of Cities and other plays by bertolt brecht,
reprinted by permission of Suhrkamp Verlag. Bertolt Brecht, Im Dickicht der Städte,
Große kommentierte Berliner und Frankfurter Ausgabe, Werke, Band 1, Stücke 1,
Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt, 1989. (Great Berlin and Frankfurt edition containing
commentary, Works, volume 1, item 1, Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt, 1989.)
Chapter 4 contains excerpts (ca. 2635 wds) from Native Son by richard wright.
Copyright 1940 by richard wright. Copyright © renewed 1968 by ellen wright.
reprinted by permission of harperCollins Publishers.
Chapter 5 contains excerpts from The Adventures of Augie March by saul bellow.
Copyright 1949, 1951, 1952, 1953 by Saul Bellow. Used by permission of Viking
Penguin, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. AND Copyright © 1981 by Saul
bellow, reprinted with permission of the wylie agency LLC.
Chapter 7 contains excerpts from Jazz by toni Morrison, copyright © 1992 by toni
Morrison. Used by permission of alfred a. Knopf, a division of random house, inc.
Chapter 8 contains excerpts from The House on Mango Street by sandra Cisneros.
Copyright © 1984 by Sandra Cisneros. Published by Vintage Books, a division of
random house, inc., and in hardcover by alfred a. Knopf in 1994. by permission
of Susan Bergholz Literary Services, New York, NY and Lamy, NM. All rights
reserved.
also in Chapter 8 is an excerpt from “Guerre” / “war” by arthur rimbaud,
trans. wallace fowlie and rev. seth whidden, reprinted by permission of the
University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 and the University of Chicago Press,
Ltd., London © 1966, 2005 by the University of Chicago. all rights reserved.
Published 2005. Printed in the United states of america.
the epilogue contains excerpts from Cosmopolis by don deLillo, reprinted with
the permission of scribner, a division of simon & schuster, inc. Copyright ©
2003 by don deLillo. all rights reserved.
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Acknowledgments
a project such as the present one is necessarily individual and collaborative,
professional and personal, expressive at once of intellectual and larger human
imperatives. The fruit of enduring commitments, in a more specific phase the
book originated in a team-taught course and extended collaboration with the late
thomas anton, former dean of the faculty at brown University and emeritus
taubman Professor of Public Policy and american institutions.
I especially want to thank my colleague and close friend Arnold Weinstein,
who has read portions of the manuscript and contributed suggestions and ideas,
only the most recent instance in our career-long professional partnership. in
addition to other brown faculty, among them réda bensmaïa and rey Chow, i
have benefited from the advice and support of colleagues in literary and social
science fields at other institutions—Professors Ross Chambers, Priscilla Parkhurst
ferguson, douglas rae, barbara ferman, George o’har, steve Murphy, Karen
Lucas, françoise Lionnet and Lawrence rosenwald.
as Mary L. Cornille distinguished Visiting Professor in the humanities at
wellesley College in 2004–2005, i learned a great deal in an interdisciplinary
faculty seminar on the themes of this book. I am grateful to Mary Cornille and
Jack Cogan, and to Professors Lee Cuba, Andrea Levitt and Timothy Peltason, the
late Nathalie Buchet Ritchey, Ifeanyi Menkiti, Patricia Berman, Kathleen Brogan,
steven schiavo, anne witte and winifred wood. of course, i have been regularly
encouraged by brown University, through sabbatical support, but even more
significantly through stimulation from students and faculty, in a flourishing program
in Comparative Literature and a curriculum that encourages interdisciplinary
initiatives. i am particularly grateful to Presidents Vartan Gregorian and ruth
simmons.
i also wish to note the extensive investigations in support of the project by
brown research assistants—Kerry schneider, Jared Green, teresa Villa-ignacio,
Ghenwa Hayek, Robert Hilliker and Brian Ballentine. I have been fortunate too
to have had in Ann Donahue a wonderfully supportive and efficient Senior Editor.
Finally, in an enterprise that has deep personal roots, I invoke the memory of my
late parents, harry and Gertrude ahearn, and the joy of my family, including my
four Brooklyn brothers, and all the others, especially my wife, Michèle Respaut,
Professor of french at wellesley College.