Der Band verbindet Andreas Reckwitz' soziologische Theorien zur Subjektkultur mit Analysen englischer Romane vom 18. bis zum 21. Jahrhundert. Die Beiträger zeigen, dass der englische Roman Übergangsprozesse von der bürgerlichen zur postmodernen Subjektkultur dokumentiert, allerdings auch selber ein diskursformendes Medium ist. Dabei beziehen sich die Beiträger neben Reckwitz auf weitere Subjekttheorien und bringen diese in einen kritischen Dialog. Der Band präsentiert große Teile von Reckwitz' Forschung zum ersten Mal einem englischsprachigen Publikum und bietet eine innovative literaturwissenschaftliche Auseinandersetzung mit Subjektkulturen und ihrer Transformation.

This collection of essays examines the representation of subject cultures in the English novel from the 18th to the 21st century. It draws upon the work of Andreas Reckwitz and connects his sociological theories with other approaches to subjectivity. This approach is innovative since to this date no extended study exists that discusses subject cultures and Reckwitz's concepts from a literary studies perspective. The essays concentrate on points of transition between subject cultures and demonstrate that the English novel functions as a key tool in articulating as well as negotiating concepts of modern subjectivity.

Inhalt
Preface Part I: Theorising Subject Cultures Meinhard Winkgens: "Reckwitz's Theory of Subject Culture in Western Modernity." Part II: The Individual between Bourgeois and Romantic Subject Culture Maurus Roller: "Samuel Richardson's Pamela: The Aristocratic Subject and the Ascendency of the Middle Class Cultural Order." Nadine Aldag: "Jane Eyre as an Individual Subject Between the Bourgeois and the Romantic Subject Culture." Meinhard Winkgens: "Re-reading David Copperfield as a Polysemic Imaginative Exploration of Bourgeois Subject Culture and its Supplementary Romantic Other." Part III: Creative Transformations of the Organisation Man Isa Maubach: "Metatheoretical reflections on the creativity imperative." Marie-Theres Wieme: "A.S. Byatt's The Children's Book." Sarah Heinz: "Challenging the Organisation Man: Normality and Normalisation in the Contemporary Anglophone Novel." Stefan Glomb: "The Hybrid Individual in Ian McEwan's Chesil Beach." Nora Kuster: "Bringing down the house: De/Constructing 20th century middle-class subjectivity in JG Ballard's High Rise." Stella Butter: "Representations of Ideal Homes in English Culture: Gracious Living and the Creative Self in Matthew Reynolds' Designs for a Happy Home."