The Challenge of Bewilderment

Understanding and Representation in James, Conrad, and Ford

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, British, American
Cover of the book The Challenge of Bewilderment by Paul B. Armstrong, Cornell University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Paul B. Armstrong ISBN: 9781501722738
Publisher: Cornell University Press Publication: March 15, 2018
Imprint: Cornell University Press Language: English
Author: Paul B. Armstrong
ISBN: 9781501722738
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Publication: March 15, 2018
Imprint: Cornell University Press
Language: English

The Challenge of Bewilderment treats the epistemology of representation in major works by Henry James, Joseph Conrad, and Ford Madox Ford, attempting to explain how the novel turned away from its traditional concern with realistic representation and toward self-consciousness about the relation between knowing and narration. Paul B. Armstrong here addresses the pivotal thematic experience of "bewilderment," an experience that challenges the reader’s very sense of reality and that shows it to have no more certainty or stability than an interpretative construct.

Through readings of The Sacred Fount and The Ambassadors by James, Lord Jim and Nostromo by Conrad, and The Good Soldier and Parade’s End by Ford, Armstrong examines how each writer dramatizes his understanding of the act of knowing. Armstrong demonstrates how the novelists’ attitudes toward the process of knowing inform experiments with representation, through which they thematize the relation between the understanding of a fictional world and everyday habits of perception. Finally, he considers how these experiments with the strategies of narration produce a heightened awareness of the process of interpretation.

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

The Challenge of Bewilderment treats the epistemology of representation in major works by Henry James, Joseph Conrad, and Ford Madox Ford, attempting to explain how the novel turned away from its traditional concern with realistic representation and toward self-consciousness about the relation between knowing and narration. Paul B. Armstrong here addresses the pivotal thematic experience of "bewilderment," an experience that challenges the reader’s very sense of reality and that shows it to have no more certainty or stability than an interpretative construct.

Through readings of The Sacred Fount and The Ambassadors by James, Lord Jim and Nostromo by Conrad, and The Good Soldier and Parade’s End by Ford, Armstrong examines how each writer dramatizes his understanding of the act of knowing. Armstrong demonstrates how the novelists’ attitudes toward the process of knowing inform experiments with representation, through which they thematize the relation between the understanding of a fictional world and everyday habits of perception. Finally, he considers how these experiments with the strategies of narration produce a heightened awareness of the process of interpretation.

More books from Cornell University Press

Cover of the book The Sleep of Behemoth by Paul B. Armstrong
Cover of the book Hunger in the Balance by Paul B. Armstrong
Cover of the book Spaces of Feeling by Paul B. Armstrong
Cover of the book Casualties of History by Paul B. Armstrong
Cover of the book Double Paradox by Paul B. Armstrong
Cover of the book Land and Loyalty by Paul B. Armstrong
Cover of the book If We Can Win Here by Paul B. Armstrong
Cover of the book The Eye of the Sandpiper by Paul B. Armstrong
Cover of the book Legal Naturalism by Paul B. Armstrong
Cover of the book Spartak Moscow by Paul B. Armstrong
Cover of the book Homicide in American Fiction, 1798–1860 by Paul B. Armstrong
Cover of the book Making and Unmaking Nations by Paul B. Armstrong
Cover of the book The Thought of Work by Paul B. Armstrong
Cover of the book Stagestruck by Paul B. Armstrong
Cover of the book Imperial Eclipse by Paul B. Armstrong
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