Overview

Can revolution unfold in chapters? Seriality has long shaped how we read, think, and act; Peter Hitchcock explores how it structures both knowledge and social change. From Karl Marx's decision to publish Capital in serial form to contemporary adaptations in manga and graphic novels, Seriality and Social Change examines how serialization both democratizes knowledge and shapes the very process of social transformation. Peter Hitchcock delves into the paradox of the serial: while it can expand access to radical thought, it can also impose structural limits, slowing or containing the revolutionary potential it seeks to unleash. Through a sweeping analysis that links literature and political economy, Hitchcock explores how serialized narratives frame, sustain, or even hinder movements for change. Does seriality mirror the mechanics of capitalism, or can it be a tool for subverting them? Engaging with this question across genres and forms, Seriality and Social Change invites readers to rethink how revolution is told and imagined over time.

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9781803095837

Table of Contents

Reviews

“Hitchcock offers a dense, deliberate, theoretically informed close reading of the work in question, one that aims to keep in place or enhance its complexity rather than to explain it away . . . This is a formidable work of postcolonial theory that deserves a close and careful read by anyone with an interest in transnational literature.” -- Praise for “The Long Space” * Jonathan Naito, Comparative Literature Studies * “In the end, what Hitchcock offers his readers is a conjunction of both close and distant readings, scrutiny alongside scale. The Long Space is an impressive book at the extremes of both detailed textual analysis and complex theoretical abstraction.” -- Praise for “The Long Space” * Critical and Cultural Theory * “Theoretically sophisticated and meticulously argued . . . This is a very innovative monograph that provides the type of theoretically inspired close reading of postcolonial literature that is often lacking in the field . . . It is an important work that will surely become a major point of reference for those keen to pursue the study of a postcolonial aesthetic.” -- Praise for “The Long Space” * David Murphy, Modern Language Review * “Hitchcock’s book is an outstanding, provocative contribution to the fields of postcolonial literature, novel theory, and world literature. It is also one of those rare scholarly books in which the voice of the author, his passion, and his sense of humour, are on display . . . The project both describes and enacts a contradiction, which is a hallmark of the very finest scholarship.” -- Praise for “The Long Space” * Cóilín Parsons, Reviews in Cultural Theory *

Author Information

Peter Hitchcock teaches literature, film, and theory at the City University of New York (CUNY). He is also the associate director of the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics at the CUNY Graduate Center. His published books include Labor in Culture; or, Worker of the World(s), The Long Space, Imaginary States, and Dialogics of the Oppressed.

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