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Contemporary Historical Fiction, Exceptionalism and Community : After the Wreck
multi chapter work
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'This book analyzes contemporary historical fiction about damaging, even catastrophic times for people and communities. The novels chronicle civil wars, slavery, and genocide; they trace the logic of histories “after the wreck” when nations assume an exalted, exceptionalist identity and violate the human rights of their Others, rendering community impossible. A first section of the introduction draws on the work of New Americanist scholars to develop the implications of exceptionalism, especially its exclusion of Others from the nation-state’s community. A second section develops the meanings of community, drawing on thinkers who develop ethical and inclusive models. Replacing a vision of the exceptional state as an ahistorical polity of the privileged, contemporary historical fictions imagine diverse communities of obligation, kinship, duty, and service.' (Publication summary)
Notes
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Contents indexed selectively.
Contents
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War and Communities of Suffering : Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North,
single work
criticism
(p. 77-102)'War emerges from, rests on, and exaggerates state exceptionalism. It requires patriotic fervor, including beliefs that "our" state must be defended at all costs, that its aggressions are justified by its uniqueness and value, and that exceptional times require exceptional measures. Without exceptionalism, going to war makes no sense; it costs too much in human lives as well as capital. Exceptionalism flourishes in wartime, shared by every state that is party to the conflict; it leads young men and women to volunteer for service that may maim or kill them. States of war arouse racial and cultural prejudice against the Others with whom "our" nation fights, leading to sites of exception like the internment camps for Japanese-Americans in the U.S. during World War II, concentration camps for Jews and Roma in Europe, and camps for prisoners of war in many global locations. States at war become quintessential states of exception, making it possible for some deeply partisan warriors to disavow their violations of national and international law and basic human rights. Since "our" state is the uniquely correct alternative to all other failed states (which claim the same exceptional status), everything is at stake and anything is allowed.' (Introduction)
