The American Dream and the Popular NovelRoutledge, 23.10.2017 - 256 Seiten This title, originally published in 1985, examines conceptions of success and the good life expressed in bestselling novels – ranging from historical sagas and spy thrillers to more serious works by Updike, Bellows, Steinbeck and Mailer – published from 1945 to 1975. Using these popular books as cultural evidence, Elizabeth Long argues that the meaning of the American dream has changed dramatically, but in a more complex fashion than has been recognised by that country’s most prominent social critics. Her study presents a challenge to prevailing social-scientific views of contemporary American culture, and represents, both in theory and method, an important contribution to the study of culture and social criticism. |
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... cultural evidence according to how accurate a reflection of the world they generate. But novels imply a community of ... culture understand that certain physical descriptions connote beauty, and that a certain ending is to be taken as ...
... evidence about its cultural ethos. Bestselling novels are particularly important cultural artifacts because they are primarily a social rather than a literary phenomenon. Although they are books, their status as 'bestsellers' is ...
Elizabeth Long. once again, point to general cultural developments. In other words, I am arguing that bestsellers are a particularly useful source of evidence precisely because they represent a sort of common denominator of our literary ...
... cultural response to the institutional shifts they anatomize. All contend ... culture of narcissism' on the American personality, all are operating with a vision of ... evidence, such as bestselling novels, could correct this lacuna in ...
... culture from effectively using cultural evidence. The first has to do with the relationship of social critics to their culture. On the one hand, because they are part of the social world of the American middle class, these social ...
Inhalt
from entrepreneurial adventure | |
the varieties of selffulfillment | |
the failure of success | |
The social critics | |
Conclusion | |
Notes | |
Bibliography | |
Index | |