Wainwright, Michael. creator author. aut http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/aut SpringerLink (Online service) text sz 2024 1st ed. 2024. monographic eng

electronic

electronic resource

access XI, 228 p. 4 illus. online resource. This book examines the literature of African-American author Richard Wright and the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, arguing that Wright was not only the foremost proponent of minoritarian protest literature, but also a groundbreaking minoritarian exponent of philosophical literature. In presenting this argument, the volume defends trolley problems from the criticism that some philosophers level against them by promoting their use as an interpretive tool for literary scholars. Starting with Martha C. Nussbaum’s interventions in literary theory concerning Henry James and perceptive equilibrium, this book draws on the philosophical thoughts of her contemporaries—Philippa Foot, John Rawls, Judith Jarvis Thomson, and Derek Parfit—to analyze Uncle Tom’s Children, especially “Down by the Riverside,” alongside other works by Wright. This approach emphasizes Wright’s recognition of the importance and integrity of Kant’s concept of dignity. Michael Wainwright is Honorary Research Associate at the University of London, UK. He is the author of numerous books, including most recently Faulkner’s Ethics: An Intense Struggle (2021), The Rational Shakespeare: Peter Ramus, Edward de Vere, and the Question of Authorship (2018), and Game Theory and Postwar American Literature (2016), all published by Palgrave. Chapter 1 Introduction: Contesting Equilibria: Nussbaum versus Rawls -- Chapter 2 Kantian Dignity -- Chapter 3 Philosophical Literature -- Chapter 4 Trolley Problems -- Chapter 5 Lifeboats -- Chapter 6 Richard Wright’s Travails of Mann -- Chapter 7 Conclusion: Be Reasonable. by Michael Wainwright. Fiction Creative nonfiction Literature, Modern 20th century America Literatures Literature Philosophy Ethics Fiction Literature Non-Fiction Literature Twentieth-Century Literature North American Literature Literary Theory Moral Philosophy and Applied Ethics PN3311-3503 9783031402166 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40216-6 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40216-6 231027 20251030110826.0 978-3-031-40216-6