The Ethnography of Manners

Description:

This book examines fiction and ethnography as related forms for analyzing and exhibiting social life. Focusing on the novels of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, and Edith Wharton, the study argues that novels and ethnographies collaborated to produce an unstable but powerful master discourse of "culture," a discourse that allowed writers to turn new social energies and fears into particular kinds of authorial expertise. Crossing a range of institutions (anthropology, literature, museums, law) and texts (novels, ethnographies, travel books, social theory), this study allows fiction to take its place in a web of social practices that categorize, display, and regulate what Wharton calls "the customs of the country."

subjects: Knowledge,  Manners and customs,  Manners and customs in literature,  Literature and society,  History and criticism,  Ethnology in literature,  American fiction,  Literature and anthropology,  Hawthorne, nathaniel, 1804-1864,  Wharton, edith, 1862-1937,  James, henry, 1843-1916,  American fiction, history and criticism,  Knowledge--social life and customsjames, henry , 1843-1916,  Knowledge--social life and customswharton, edith , 1862-1937,  Knowledge--social life and customshawthorne, nathaniel , 1804-1864,  American fiction--history and criticism,  Literature and anthropology--united states,  Literature and society--united states,  Ps374.m33 b46 1995,  813/.409,  Knowledge and learning,  Social life and customs,  Universidad Sergio Arboleda

People: Henry James (1843-1916),  Edith Wharton (1862-1937),  Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)

Places: United States