[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-151418-en":3,"doc-seo-151418-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":95},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":27,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},151418,962084925636,"Sophia Brooks","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_994ba38a5ba835b3df7d355c54d3ed8d",8,"Research & Report","Labor, Idleness, and Colonial Modern Fiction - Reading Claude McKay, Yi Sang, and Samuel Beckett in Relation","This dissertation addresses the entanglement of work, identity, aesthetics, and geopolitics in the writings of Claude McKay, Yi Sang, and Samuel Beckett. It foregrounds their thematic and formal explorations of idleness, intervening in scholarship that emphasizes labor and work in modernist art. By situating these explorations in colonial and racial histories, the study contributes to comparative literature and postcolonial literary studies. It critiques modernity’s valorization of work and reframes idleness as a positive subjective state.","Labor, Idleness, and Colonial Modern Fiction: Reading Claude McKay, Yi Sang, and Samuel Beckett in Relation  \nby  \nKeeran Murphy  \nDepartment of English  \nDuke University  \nDate: November 16, 2023  \nApproved:  \nNayoung Aimee Kwon, Co-Advisor  \nAarthi Vadde, Co-Advisor  \nJarvis Conell McInnis  \nWalter Mignolo  \nDissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of English in the Graduate School of Duke University  \nABSTRACT  \nLabor, Idleness, and Colonial Modern Fiction: Reading Claude McKay, Yi Sang, and Samuel Beckett in Relation  \nby  \nKeeran Murphy  \nDepartment of English  \nDuke University  \nDate: November 16, 2023  \nApproved:  \nNayoung Aimee Kwon, Co-Advisor  \nAarthi Vadde, Co-Advisor  \nJarvis Conell McInnis  \nWalter Mignolo  \nAn abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of English in the Graduate School of Duke University  \n2023  \nCopyright by Keeran Murphy 2023  \nAbstract  \nThis dissertation addresses the entanglement of work, identity, aesthetics, and geopolitics in the writings of three modernist authors: Claude McKay (1890-1948), Yi Sang (1910-1937), and Samuel Beckett (1906-1989). It focuses in particular on these writers’ explorations of idleness in their narratives, both thematically and formally. As such, it intervenes in scholarly discussions on the importance of labor and work to modernist artists. The contexts of colonial and racial history are foregrounded for their significance to the authors’ creative explorations of idleness, and in this way the dissertation also contributes to fields of comparative literature and postcolonial literary studies.  \nThe primary works addressed are Claude McKay’s novel Banjo (1929), Yi Sang’s short fictional narrative “Wings”(1936), and Samuel Beckett’s early novel Murphy  \n(1938), as well as his later trilogy of Molloy (1951), Malone Dies (1951), and The Unnamable (1953) . The dissertation suggests that, like many twentieth-century modernist writers, McKay, Yi Sang, and Beckett took up work as an important concept for creative investigation. However, it argues that their interests in fact lie less with work itself than they do with idleness—a concept that capitalist ideology would define negatively in terms of the absence of productive labor but which these writers explore as a positive subjective state of being. As such, their writings powerfully critique the place of work in the modern world and challenge readers to question their own valuations of labor and idleness.  \nContents  \nAbstract .............................................................................................................................. iv  \n1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1  \n1.1 On Comparison and Reading in Relation ............................................................... 7  \n1.2 On Labor and Idleness as Ideological Concepts ................................................... 19  \n1.3 The Chapters ......................................................................................................... 26  \n2. Claude McKay’s Pretty Nonsense: Banjo, Aesthetics, and the Racial Politics of Creative Labor .................................................................................................................. 32  \n2.1 Plotless Storytelling and “That Vague Thing Called Atmosphere”...................... 36  \n2.2 “Pretty Nonsense” and McKay’s Aesthetics of Difference ………………..……44  \n2.3 The Creative Labor of Plotless Storytelling/Pretty Nonsense …………………..48  \n2.4 McKay's Universal……………………………………………………………….53  \n3.“Pretending to Be Human”: Idleness and Narration in Yi Sang’s “Wings”................. 56  \n3.1 Idleness in Context: Capitalism and Colonial Modernity..................................... 59  \n3.2 Wit and Paradox: Yi ","cbCaibwbhZ6IOSKL","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaibwbhZ6IOSKL","pdf",1136819,1,175,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n## On Comparison and Reading in Relation\n## On Labor and Idleness as Ideological Concepts\n## The Chapters\n# Claude McKay’s Pretty Nonsense: Banjo, Aesthetics, and the Racial Politics of Creative Labor\n## Plotless Storytelling and “That Vague Thing Called Atmosphere”\n## “Pretty Nonsense” and McKay’s Aesthetics of Difference\n## The Creative Labor of Plotless Storytelling/Pretty Nonsense\n## McKay's Universal\n# “Pretending to Be Human”: Idleness and Narration in Yi Sang’s “Wings”\n## Idleness in Context: Capitalism and Colonial Modernity\n## Wit and Paradox: Yi Sang’s Idle Narration in “Wings”\n## Yi Sang and the \"I-Novel\"\n## Yi Sang’s Incongruent Representation\n## \"Ennui\"","[{\"question\":\"What central relationship does the dissertation examine among work, identity, aesthetics, and geopolitics?\",\"answer\":\"It examines how work and identity connect with aesthetic practice and geopolitical forces in the writings of McKay, Yi Sang, and Beckett, while emphasizing idleness as the key conceptual focus.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the dissertation treat idleness in relation to capitalist ideology?\",\"answer\":\"It argues that capitalist ideology defines idleness negatively as the absence of productive labor, but these writers develop idleness as a positive subjective state that challenges prevailing valuations.\"},{\"question\":\"Which primary literary works are analyzed?\",\"answer\":\"The dissertation focuses on Claude McKay’s Banjo (1929), Yi Sang’s “Wings” (1936), and Samuel Beckett’s Murphy (1938) as well as his trilogy Molloy (1951), Malone Dies (1951), and The Unnamable (1953).\"},{\"question\":\"What scholarly debate does the dissertation intervene in?\",\"answer\":\"It intervenes in discussions that stress labor and work as central to modernist artists, shifting attention toward how these authors make idleness central to both narrative form and thematic meaning.\"}]","Labor, Idleness, and Colonial Modern Fiction - Reading Claude McKay, Yi Sang, and Samuel Beckett in Relation | PDF",1787839549,441,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":90,"head_meta":92,"extra_data":94,"updated_unix":28},"labor-idleness-and-colonial-modern-fiction-reading-claude-mckay-yi-sang-and-samuel-beckett-in-relation","",{"@graph":36,"@context":89},[37,54,68],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,48,51],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":47},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":50},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":53},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/labor-idleness-and-colonial-modern-fiction-reading-claude-mckay-yi-sang-and-samuel-beckett-in-relation/151418/",4,{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":55,"author":56,"headline":13,"publisher":58,"fileFormat":61,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":62,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":61,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":57},"Person",{"url":41,"name":59,"@type":60},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-08-27",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71,77,81,85],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"What central relationship does the dissertation examine among work, identity, aesthetics, and geopolitics?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"It examines how work and identity connect with aesthetic practice and geopolitical forces in the writings of McKay, Yi Sang, and Beckett, while emphasizing idleness as the key conceptual focus.","Answer",{"name":78,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":79},"How does the dissertation treat idleness in relation to capitalist ideology?",{"text":80,"@type":76},"It argues that capitalist ideology defines idleness negatively as the absence of productive labor, but these writers develop idleness as a positive subjective state that challenges prevailing valuations.",{"name":82,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":83},"Which primary literary works are analyzed?",{"text":84,"@type":76},"The dissertation focuses on Claude McKay’s Banjo (1929), Yi Sang’s “Wings” (1936), and Samuel Beckett’s Murphy (1938) as well as his trilogy Molloy (1951), Malone Dies (1951), and The Unnamable (1953).",{"name":86,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":87},"What scholarly debate does the dissertation intervene in?",{"text":88,"@type":76},"It intervenes in discussions that stress labor and work as central to modernist artists, shifting attention toward how these authors make idleness central to both narrative form and thematic meaning.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":52,"og:type":91,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":59,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":93,"canonical":52},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":96},[97,101,105,109,114,119,124,127,132,135,139],{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":47,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":53,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":110,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":120,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":121,"show_sort_weight":122,"slug":123},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":125,"slug":126},30,"research-report",{"id":128,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":130,"slug":131},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":130,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":133,"show_sort_weight":130,"slug":134},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":136,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":137,"show_sort_weight":136,"slug":138},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":140,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":141,"show_sort_weight":110,"slug":142},19,"General","general"]