Jameson - Marc Angenot, Literary History, and the Study of Culture in the Nineteenth Century

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1、05.jameson11/10/0412:08PMPage233FredricJamesonMarcAngenot,LiteraryHistory,andtheStudyofCultureintheNineteenthCenturyAsIwantedtosaysomethingaboutanunusualnineteenth-centuryliteraryhistory—auniquelyidiosyncraticliteraryandculturalhistoryofthenineteenthcentury—Ifoundmyselfwishingthat

2、Icouldalsosaysomethingalittlemoregeneralaboutliteraryhistoriesandalsoaboutthenineteenthcentury.Ihavebeeninterestedinliteraryhistoryasaformorgenreforsometime,withoutbeingabletoobservethecrystallizationofatheory,ortodiscerntheoutlinesofamodel.Ifoundmyselfreflectingonanumberofkeytexts

3、—Marx’sEighteenthBrumaire,1Barthes’sWritingZeroDegree,2Adorno’sPhilosophyofMod-ernMusic3—thatIwantedtocalldialecticalhistoriesorhistoriogra-phies,withoutitbeingclear(tome)howtheconceptofthedialecti-calwasmeanttofunction:wasittobeamethodologicalsignal,aboutacertainproceduresuchhist

4、oriesalwaysneededtoperformonthepreexistingstereotypesofhistorythattheycameintotheworldtocorrect,reverse,overcome,orundermineinonewayoranother?Buttheninthatcasetheseweretobethoughtofasexemplarytexts,whichcouldbeimitatedbyotherhistoriansandreplicatedforotherhistoricalperiodsandother

5、kindsofhistoricalcontent.Leavingasidethequestionofwhetherthedialecticshouldreallybethoughtofinthatwayasamethodatall,Ialsowonderedwhetherweneededcopiesoftheseuniquenarrativesexactly,evenifitshouldprovepos-sibletoreproducethematall.Forwhattendstomakealltheoreticalorphilosophicalques

6、tionsofgenreboringandintolerablyold-fashionedisthepersistenceinthemoftheschemaoftheuniversalandthepar-ticular,orthegeneralandtheindividualor,worseyet,thegenusandthespecies.Butoursisanagepeculiarlyallergictouniversals—whetherforallthatitisanominalistageexactlyisanotherquestion—atan

7、yrate,problems,whichlikethisgenericoneinviteustorehearsetheoldformulasoftheuniversalandtheparticularwithoutchalleng-ingtheminanyway,tendtobediscardedenroutelikesomuchex-cessbaggage,ifnottiesthatchokeorunnecessaryovergarments.Wasthenineteenthcenturymoreinclinedtogiveuniversalsthebe

8、nefitofthedoubtthanweare?Itisaques