“Where we are in America”: Unlocking the Political Unconscious in Harry Crews' Car

Authors

  • Wade A Bell Jr University of Gothenburg

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58221/mosp.v107i1.8125

Keywords:

Car, Harry Crews, Marxism, the Political Unconscious, the Carnivalesque, Consumer Capitalism, Mikhail Bakhtin, Fredric Jameson

Abstract

This article discusses the political implications of Harry Crews' 1972 novel Car. Like all superstructures, Crews' novel is a reflection of a self-divided base, often appearing ambivalent towards the dominant mode of production behind its form. Using the symbol of the automobile as a mastercode, I demonstrate how Car utilizes a carnivalesque literary mode to disrupt the power of consumer capitalism encoded within its pages. To substantiate this claim, I facilitate a diologic between Fredric Jameson's Political Unconscious and Mikhail Bakhtin's notion of the carnivalesque. Following Jameson's interpretive apparatus, I discuss the implications of Crews' novel from the perspective of class (ideologemes), modes of production, and literary modes (ideologies of form). In addition, I discuss the limitations of all symbolic acts as they become commodities under capitalism. Ultimately, I hope to demonstrate the ongoing relevance of Marxism as an illuminating force in both literature and in society.

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Published

2013-06-17

How to Cite

Bell Jr, W. A. (2013). “Where we are in America”: Unlocking the Political Unconscious in Harry Crews’ Car. Moderna Språk, 107(1), 11–30. https://doi.org/10.58221/mosp.v107i1.8125

Issue

Section

Original Articles

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