Andrew Reynolds and Bonnie Roos (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780813061641
- eISBN:
- 9780813051208
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813061641.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, World Literature
Behind the Masks of Modernism: Global and Transnational Perspectives is an anthology that studies global modernisms through the lens of masks. The manuscript explores regional, national and ...
More
Behind the Masks of Modernism: Global and Transnational Perspectives is an anthology that studies global modernisms through the lens of masks. The manuscript explores regional, national and transnational modernisms as they are represented through literature, art, history, architecture, drama, and cultural studies. We are invested in recent studies of global modernisms and the “transnational turn” which de-centers modernism from its Western origins. In dialogue with other recent works on global modernisms such as Mark Wollaeger’s anthology, The Oxford Handbook to Global Modernisms, Laura Doyle and Laura Winkiel’s Geomodernisms: Race, Modernism, Modernity, Dilip Gaonkar’s Alternative Modernities, and Arjun Appadurai’s Modernity at Large, our text uses the common trope of masks as a comparative scaffolding that explores how artists and writers produced their works in moments of emerging modernity, aesthetic sensibility, and deep societal transformation. From masking as a method of sustaining tradition in the midst of new technological advances, to the motif of theatre masks as representing one’s entry into modernity, to the masking of one’s relationship to authoritative national influences revolutionizing cultural education, our analyses of masks uncovers the dialogical nature of regional modernisms and highlights key differences that stem from local cultural spheres within a unified, cross-cultural discussion about a topic of interest across these differences.Less
Behind the Masks of Modernism: Global and Transnational Perspectives is an anthology that studies global modernisms through the lens of masks. The manuscript explores regional, national and transnational modernisms as they are represented through literature, art, history, architecture, drama, and cultural studies. We are invested in recent studies of global modernisms and the “transnational turn” which de-centers modernism from its Western origins. In dialogue with other recent works on global modernisms such as Mark Wollaeger’s anthology, The Oxford Handbook to Global Modernisms, Laura Doyle and Laura Winkiel’s Geomodernisms: Race, Modernism, Modernity, Dilip Gaonkar’s Alternative Modernities, and Arjun Appadurai’s Modernity at Large, our text uses the common trope of masks as a comparative scaffolding that explores how artists and writers produced their works in moments of emerging modernity, aesthetic sensibility, and deep societal transformation. From masking as a method of sustaining tradition in the midst of new technological advances, to the motif of theatre masks as representing one’s entry into modernity, to the masking of one’s relationship to authoritative national influences revolutionizing cultural education, our analyses of masks uncovers the dialogical nature of regional modernisms and highlights key differences that stem from local cultural spheres within a unified, cross-cultural discussion about a topic of interest across these differences.
