Cultural Materialism: Theory and Practice

In recent years the left has transformed traditional approaches to literature and culture. Critical movements such as Cultural Materialism and New Historicism have succeeded to the point where they now constitute the new academic order. Scott Wilson explains and demonstrates the power of these modes of critical enquiry and explores their limitations. His book provides a forceful critical engagement with major figures in the field – Francis Barker, Catherine Belsey, Jonathan Dollimore, Terry Eagleton, Jonathan Goldberg, Stephen Greenblatt, Alan Sinfield – whose work represents a broad spectrum of positions from Marxism, which privileges class, to a radical criticism emphasising the politics of difference. Cultural Materialism problematizes a number of fundamental Marxist assumptions with recourse to the theories of Georges Bataille. The author also shows how cultural materialism is applied in practice through readings of key Renaissance texts by, among others, Shakespeare and Spenser, and later work by Dollimore and Sinfield on queer theory, particularly with regard to Oscar Wilde.

Preface. Part One: Cultural Materialism: . 1. Introduction. 2. Culture and Materialism. 3. Stephen Greenblatt and New Historicism. Part Two: Value: . 4. Shakespeare. 5. Usure in The Merchant of Venice . Part Three: History: . 6. The Four Fundamental Discourses of History. 7. Enjoying the Nature of Britain in King Lear . 8. General Economy and The Changeling . Part Four: Community: . 9. The Utopian Orgy. 10. Queer Gifts. 11. Oscar Wilde and the Love of the Impossible. 12. Conclusion. Bibliography. Index.

Scott Wilson is a Lecturer in the Department of English at Lancaster University.

"Wilson focuses each of the three large parts of this book on one of three philosophical areas central to cultural materialism: value, history, and community. He provides excellent theoretical accounts of these areas. However, what makes this book more than an introduction is the author′s decision to make each of these three abstract discussions a preface to textual analysis (chiefly of texts by Shakespeare, Middleton and Rowley, and Wilde). Through his textual analysis, he concretely demonstrates many of the strengths and weaknesses of cultural materialism and also suggests the power of his own brand of cultural materialism, which is deeply infused by Foucault, Benjamin, Lacan and Bataille. The book thereby becomes, elegantly, not only a brilliant account of cultural materialism but also a major contribution to its future." (I) Choice (D)