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National Domesticity: “The Fairy Way of Writing”
Author(s) -
Pask Kevin
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
history compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.121
H-Index - 1
ISSN - 1478-0542
DOI - 10.1111/j.1478-0542.2012.00847.x
Subject(s) - anachronism , abandonment (legal) , ideology , bourgeoisie , period (music) , marxist philosophy , aesthetics , nationalism , demise , relevance (law) , history , the imaginary , psychology , sociology , literature , psychoanalysis , politics , art , political science , law
Abstract Michael McKeon’s The Secret History of Domesticity is a powerful account of early modern culture partly because of its abandonment of the traditional (Marxist) association of domesticity with the bourgeoisie. However, the book’s scrupulous avoidance of anachronistic ideological terms of analysis also seems to entail a relative lack of interest in nationalism, which is arguably emerging in the period. This paper argues for the relevance of the emergence of a national literary imaginary as a version of early modern domesticity.