we read, for ex, Elizabeth Fox Genovese's[1],
>Feminism
>without Illusions, for instance.
A book a recall rather liking, actually.
i was too young to understand i
>guess, but
>I remember them speaking in hushed tones that were respectful--but
>obviously disappointed--about Eugene Genovese. I would later read about him
>as an african american studies minor--as an often referenced source. still,
>i never knew the story...if there is one. why did Genovese become a "former
>marxist".
It's a long story. G was a sort of Stalinist as a Marxist, and he was rather attracted to the reactionary critique of capitalism embodied in the pro-slavery defenses of the peculiar institutions, something about whuich he wrote a good book long ago. He had a contentious relationship with the Black Power movement, documented in part in In Red and Black. He was attacked as an apologist for slavery for his masterwork Roll, Jordan, Roll, in which he arguesthe (to my mind unexceptionable) Gramscian thesis that slavery rested on consent as much or more as on force. We had had this out here ona list a while back. G was, and is, also culturally conservative and hated the identity politics pomo left, regarded them as stupid and obscurantist and insufficiently appreciative of the virtues of a classical education. Somehow this set of discontents, in the wake of the collapse of communism, pushed him into the horrible embrace of the neo-Confederate right. A lot of his earlier views resonate for me, and I sometimes worry if I could drift there myself, but I think I am too deeply committed to liberalism. Besides, I couldn't stand to be with his current pals. jks
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