No Accident, Comrade

Chance and Design in Cold War American Narratives

Nonfiction, History, Americas, North America, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, Customs & Traditions, Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, American
Cover of the book No Accident, Comrade by Steven Belletto, Oxford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Steven Belletto ISBN: 9780190208561
Publisher: Oxford University Press Publication: December 28, 2011
Imprint: Oxford University Press Language: English
Author: Steven Belletto
ISBN: 9780190208561
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication: December 28, 2011
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Language: English

No Accident, Comrade argues that chance became a complex yet conflicted cultural signifier during the Cold War, when a range of thinkers--politicians, novelists, historians, biologists, sociologists, and others--contended that totalitarianism denied the very existence and operation of chance in the world. They claimed that the USSR perpetrated a vast fiction on its population, a fiction amplified by the Soviet view that there is no such thing as chance or accident, only manifestations of historical law (hence the popular American refrain used to refer to Marxism: "It was no accident, Comrade"). By reading an expansive range of American novels published between 1947-2005, alongside nonfiction texts by the likes of Jerzy Kosinski, Daniel Bell, Ian Hacking, and mid-century game theorists, No Accident, Comrade explains how associations of chance with democratic freedom and the denial of chance with totalitarianism circulated in Cold War America. Chance became tied to the liberties of U.S. democracy, whereas its eradication or denial became symptomatic of Soviet tyranny. With works by Nabokov, Ellison, Pynchon, Didion, DeLillo, Colson Whitehead, and many others, Steven Belletto shows how writers developed innovative strategies for dealing with and incorporating these ever-present beliefs about chance and its role in their culture. These newly developed narrative techniques allowed them to theorize, satirize, and make sense of the constantly changing relationship between the individual and the state during a largely rhetorical conflict.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

No Accident, Comrade argues that chance became a complex yet conflicted cultural signifier during the Cold War, when a range of thinkers--politicians, novelists, historians, biologists, sociologists, and others--contended that totalitarianism denied the very existence and operation of chance in the world. They claimed that the USSR perpetrated a vast fiction on its population, a fiction amplified by the Soviet view that there is no such thing as chance or accident, only manifestations of historical law (hence the popular American refrain used to refer to Marxism: "It was no accident, Comrade"). By reading an expansive range of American novels published between 1947-2005, alongside nonfiction texts by the likes of Jerzy Kosinski, Daniel Bell, Ian Hacking, and mid-century game theorists, No Accident, Comrade explains how associations of chance with democratic freedom and the denial of chance with totalitarianism circulated in Cold War America. Chance became tied to the liberties of U.S. democracy, whereas its eradication or denial became symptomatic of Soviet tyranny. With works by Nabokov, Ellison, Pynchon, Didion, DeLillo, Colson Whitehead, and many others, Steven Belletto shows how writers developed innovative strategies for dealing with and incorporating these ever-present beliefs about chance and its role in their culture. These newly developed narrative techniques allowed them to theorize, satirize, and make sense of the constantly changing relationship between the individual and the state during a largely rhetorical conflict.

More books from Oxford University Press

Cover of the book Beyond Nationalism by Steven Belletto
Cover of the book Anne Orthwood's Bastard by Steven Belletto
Cover of the book Posidippus of Pella: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide by Steven Belletto
Cover of the book Medicinal Chemistry by Steven Belletto
Cover of the book Health Social Work: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide by Steven Belletto
Cover of the book Measuring Research by Steven Belletto
Cover of the book Rite out of Place by Steven Belletto
Cover of the book The Love of a King - With Audio Level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library by Steven Belletto
Cover of the book Xenophon's Anabasis, or The Expedition of Cyrus by Steven Belletto
Cover of the book Economic Elites, Crises, and Democracy by Steven Belletto
Cover of the book Islam and the Fate of Others by Steven Belletto
Cover of the book The Oxford Handbook of Warfare in the Classical World by Steven Belletto
Cover of the book The Life of Langston Hughes by Steven Belletto
Cover of the book The Skull of Australopithecus afarensis by Steven Belletto
Cover of the book Extinction in Our Times by Steven Belletto
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy