'The Masses Make History’: On Jameson’s Allegory and Ideology

Noys, B. (2021) 'The Masses Make History’: On Jameson’s Allegory and Ideology. Historical Materialism, 29 (1). pp. 134-150. ISSN 1569-206X

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Abstract

This essay responds to Frederic Jameson’s Allegory and Ideology by arguing that this book is centrally concerned with the masses. By developing Jameson’s own model of allegorical reading the pressure of the masses on the text is explored. This is demonstrated through a reading of Albert Camus’s The Plague, Jameson’s central example of ‘bad’ allegory. While this novel is ‘bad’ for implying a one-to-one allegory between the plague infection and the occupation of France during World War Two or to the human condition, a reading of the text as biopolitical allegory reveals the complex presence of the masses. Finally, this response considers the ‘immortality’ of the masses as the utopian moment traced within Allegory and Ideology.

Item Type: Articles
Uncontrolled Keywords: Jameson; Masses; Allegory; Biopolitics; Camus; Immortality; General Economics; Econometrics and Finance; History
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General)
H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
J Political Science > JC Political theory
P Language and Literature > PR English literature
Divisions: Academic Areas > Institute of Arts and Humanities > English and Creative Writing
Related URLs:
Depositing User: Benjamin Noys
Date Deposited: 29 Oct 2020 10:39
Last Modified: 09 Apr 2021 08:15
URI: https://eprints.chi.ac.uk/id/eprint/5386

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