Jameson, Althusser, Marx: An Introduction to the Political Unconscious

by William C. Dowling

Book by Dowling, William C.

Genres: Philosophy, Ebooks

152 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

Reviews

[Gindho Rizano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hardcore theorizing needs hardcore explanation. Read this one if you are dying to understand Fredric Jameson's awesome ideas on centrality of narrative, strategy of containment, totality, dialectical thinking, political unconscious, three horizons of reading, and all those other Hegelian-Marxist concepts related to interpretation of texts. My only complaint is that Dowling did not discuss Jameson's idea of utopia.

[Tom L · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent aid to Jameson's _The Political Unconscious_, its only shortcoming being that it, at times, too closely mirrors the text of the original it is supposed to be elaborating and turns instead into a Menardian-style exercise in exegesis through repetition, the results of which are sometimes mixed.

[Z666 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disenteng pagpapakilala sa kahulugan at kabuluhan ng librong The Political Unconscious ni Fredric Jameson.

Uminog ang libro ni William Dowling sa pagpapaliwanag sa unang kabanata ng libro ni Jameson, ang sinasabi nilang pinaka-challenging na bahagi ng libro. Nasayaran din ang mga paksang sentralisasyon ng naratibo, interpretasyon ng literatura, ang Kasaysayan sa ubod ng Teksto, strategy of containtment, tatlong abot-tanaw o horisonte ng pagbasa, at mga konsepto nina Louis Althusser at Émile Durkheim. Mainam na tapik-sa-balikat bago suunguin ang komplikado (ngunit mahalagang) sinasabi ni Jameson hinggil sa literatura at kasaysayan.

The paradox is thus that a text conjures into existence as its subtext a History that cannot be seen directly, but that was nevertheless there all along, sabi ni Jameson, sabi ni Dowling. Kaya lalong mahalaga, alingawngaw ni Edel Garcellano, ang reading at rereading ng mga teksto.

[Keegan Webster · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is short, and I thought I would never bother to finish it because halfway through I put it down for over a year. I thought it was a poor introduction, too dense, and it was failing to convince me to actually read The Political Unconscious, which is supposed to be its entire reason for existing.

Then I read the second half, which was deeply engaging and I now want to read Jameson as well as Althusser. Dowling's explanation of how Jameson views narrative and interpretation, and the three horizons of interpretation, were in about as plain language as you can hope for something interacting with as many different philosophical works as it is, and for a writer as dense and convoluted as Jameson. My best advice on reading this (which I don't think anyone is reading this 40 year old grad student side project that is just introducing a different work but I digress) is to keep going, as early concepts such as the totality, and containment, end up making much more sense once integrated into Jameson's thought in the final few chapters. It is grounded in traditional/orthodox Marxism, but pushes it forward (especially the short section on modes of production) into useful, but not heretical, new territory.

[Niklas Rutgersson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Det tog mig två år men nu är jag klar. Den var bra.

[Michael A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

decent book. there's a lucid explanation of structural causality contained within...

[Tofie Pakyutsie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally, a book that made me understand what Jameson's complex mind was saying