While I'm not familiar with the content of Richter's book
(it looks great and I plan to check it out), I believe that I can maybe get you
started.
What you might want to do is look at "the
irreconcilable differences" (to use a phrase from early in Richter's preface to the
book) in the ways in which we can approach Uncle Tom's Cabin. The
approach that springs first to my mind would look at how the work is both progressive
and conservative. It's not simply "progessive for its time"; it's actualy caught up in
the same ideological forces of the 19th century that maintained slavery -- or, at least,
racist hierarchies of white and black -- as well as strict gender divisions between men
and women.
Specific theoretical approaches that could be
used include New Criticism (identify tensions and ambiguities within the text), marxism
(reveal hidden ideologies), reader response ("read resistantly"), deconstruction (turn
the dominant reception of the novel on its head), and so on. Don't try to include all
theoretical approaches, of course. Often, one approach is enough. Sometimes you can find
it helpful to use two or more approaches within the same text. You can keep the two
approaches very separate or can see how they overlap and complement each
other.
No comments:
Post a Comment