The Logic of Culture Authority and Identity in the Modern Era [Paperback]

This book proposes an analysis of the underlying 'logic' of culture, drawing on a wide range of material not previously examined in works of this kind.Series Editor's Preface.

Preface.

Introduction: The Paradox of Culture.

1. The Roots of Cultural Logic.

2. Inventing Culture.

3. Instituting Culture.

4. Culture, Critique and Community.

Notes.

Index.

This densely and incisively written book provides a compelling theoretical framework for the understanding of the logic of culture in modern times. From the rhetoric of the French Revolution to contemporary museum displays, from Schiller's aesthetics to concepts broached by Matthew Arnold, Foucault and Bourdieu, Ray engages a variety of periods, genres, issues, and regimes of thought with mastery and elegance. A major accomplishment and a fascinating read! Bernadette Fort, Northwestern University and Editor of Eighteenth-Century Studies

A tightly argued and coherent account of the conflicting impulses within culture, Ray's study will take its rightful place among the best recent work on the intricacies of culture. John C. O'Neal, Hamilton College

William Ray teaches literature, literary theory, and the Humanities at Reed College. He has previously taught at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh and the University of Oregon. His previous books include Literary Meaning (Blackwell Publishers, 1984) and Story and History (Blackwell Publishers, 1990) He is currently working on the evolution of fiction in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as a mechanism of social stratification.In contrast to other books on 'culture', this study does not provide a history of the concept, it proposes an analysis of what might be called the underlying grammar or 'logic' olÓ>