Benjamin A. Railton's Blog, page 389
March 8, 2013
March 8, 2013: Popular Fiction: Paradigm Shift
[In this week’s series, I’ll be considering some authors, texts, and contexts related to a much-maligned (in certain circles at least) but vital part of American literature: popular fiction. Your responses, favorites, critiques, and other takes will be welcome for what’s sure to be a popular crowd-sourced weekend post.]
On the telling intellectual test we face when a favorite text or author gets popular.In May 1994, film critic and journalist Anthony Lane wrote a very funny piece for The New Yorker in which, riffing off a similar Gore Videl essay from 1973, he read and (mostly) made fun of the 10 novels atop the New York Times bestseller list. I can still remember how hard I laughed as Lane dug into The Bridges of Madison County, The Celestine Prophecy, new books by perennial chart-toppers Michael Crichton, Clive Cussler, and Mary Higgins Clark, and more. Lane’s a talented humorist, so the laughs were not unearned; but it’s also fair to say that, literary scholar in-the-making that I was, I took pleasure in seeing such generally lowbrow authors taken apart. Let’s face it: The Bridges of Madison County ain’t exactly The Bridge of San Luis Rey .Beyond those specific and not necessarily unjustified critiques, however, I have to admit that both my laughs and Lane’s tone reveal a broader and more troubling kind of literary and cultural snobbery. It has of course long, if not indeed in America always, been the case that the bestseller lists don’t reflect the best work being published in a given moment, at least as we literary historians and scholars would see it; see for example the novels featured in Tuesday’s post: Ben-Hur (1880) and In His Steps (1897). Those were two of the top few bestselling novels of the last quarter of the 19th century, yet are also two books that (to my mind) wouldn’t appear on a top 200 list for the era. Yet the disconnect between the two kinds of lists has also led to what I would call a self-fulfilling prophecy for us American literary scholars: a sense that if a work is a bestseller, it must by nature be somehow less interesting or impressive; and that, concurrently, the truly interesting and impressive works will never find their way onto the bestseller lists.Because of that, it can be a particularly complex and significant moment when one of the books or authors that we’ve already put on our personal list also ends up on the bestseller list. I’ve recently experienced that with George R.R. Martin’s fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire; from the first book, A Game of Thrones (1996), the series has done well, but in the last couple years, thanks in part to the hit HBO show and in part to the release of the long-awaited fifth book in the series, it’s truly taken off and become one of the moment’s most popular works. Obviously I’m happy for Martin and his success, but I’m also experiencing that paradigm shift: this sense that an author and work on my personal list is crossing over to everybody else’s (which is I suppose what the bestseller list really is), and the questions of what that means for my sense of both lists. Martin hasn’t changed, I don’t think; neither has my own list; which must mean that I’m not always right about the bestseller list and what comprises it. Guess it’s time to revisit that Anthony Lane essay and see what else he and I might have gotten wrong…Crowd-sourced post this weekend,BenPS. So what do you think? Thoughts on any of the week’s topics and questions? Favorite popular fiction works or authors you’d highlight? Other issues you’d raise? Share ‘em please!
On the telling intellectual test we face when a favorite text or author gets popular.In May 1994, film critic and journalist Anthony Lane wrote a very funny piece for The New Yorker in which, riffing off a similar Gore Videl essay from 1973, he read and (mostly) made fun of the 10 novels atop the New York Times bestseller list. I can still remember how hard I laughed as Lane dug into The Bridges of Madison County, The Celestine Prophecy, new books by perennial chart-toppers Michael Crichton, Clive Cussler, and Mary Higgins Clark, and more. Lane’s a talented humorist, so the laughs were not unearned; but it’s also fair to say that, literary scholar in-the-making that I was, I took pleasure in seeing such generally lowbrow authors taken apart. Let’s face it: The Bridges of Madison County ain’t exactly The Bridge of San Luis Rey .Beyond those specific and not necessarily unjustified critiques, however, I have to admit that both my laughs and Lane’s tone reveal a broader and more troubling kind of literary and cultural snobbery. It has of course long, if not indeed in America always, been the case that the bestseller lists don’t reflect the best work being published in a given moment, at least as we literary historians and scholars would see it; see for example the novels featured in Tuesday’s post: Ben-Hur (1880) and In His Steps (1897). Those were two of the top few bestselling novels of the last quarter of the 19th century, yet are also two books that (to my mind) wouldn’t appear on a top 200 list for the era. Yet the disconnect between the two kinds of lists has also led to what I would call a self-fulfilling prophecy for us American literary scholars: a sense that if a work is a bestseller, it must by nature be somehow less interesting or impressive; and that, concurrently, the truly interesting and impressive works will never find their way onto the bestseller lists.Because of that, it can be a particularly complex and significant moment when one of the books or authors that we’ve already put on our personal list also ends up on the bestseller list. I’ve recently experienced that with George R.R. Martin’s fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire; from the first book, A Game of Thrones (1996), the series has done well, but in the last couple years, thanks in part to the hit HBO show and in part to the release of the long-awaited fifth book in the series, it’s truly taken off and become one of the moment’s most popular works. Obviously I’m happy for Martin and his success, but I’m also experiencing that paradigm shift: this sense that an author and work on my personal list is crossing over to everybody else’s (which is I suppose what the bestseller list really is), and the questions of what that means for my sense of both lists. Martin hasn’t changed, I don’t think; neither has my own list; which must mean that I’m not always right about the bestseller list and what comprises it. Guess it’s time to revisit that Anthony Lane essay and see what else he and I might have gotten wrong…Crowd-sourced post this weekend,BenPS. So what do you think? Thoughts on any of the week’s topics and questions? Favorite popular fiction works or authors you’d highlight? Other issues you’d raise? Share ‘em please!
March 7, 2013
March 7, 2013: Popular Fiction: Guilty Pleasures
[In this week’s series, I’ll be considering some authors, texts, and contexts related to a much-maligned (in certain circles at least) but vital part of American literature: popular fiction. Your responses, favorites, critiques, and other takes will be welcome for what’s sure to be a popular crowd-sourced weekend post.]
On learning from the popular fictions that (eventually) make us cringe.He wasn’t the first author I truly loved—that honor would go, if I have to settle on one, to Edward Ormondroyd. Nor was he the first in whose library I read multiple works—Tolkien takes that crown, as I ploughed through The Hobbit and The Lord of the Ringsin the summer before 6th grade. But Tolkien’s books are all connected, and in fact he even considered Lord of the Rings one long novel (it was his publisher who insisted that it be divided into a trilogy). And so I would have to admit that the first author for whom I read multiple unconnected books—who, that is, inspired me to check out different offerings not because a series compelled me, but just because I needed more—was none other than the dean of American military and espionage porn, Tom Clancy.It’s easy, and not entirely inaccurate, to claim that the Clancy beloved to 11 year old AmericanStudier was substantially different than the author has become in the decades since. I would certainly argue that around the time of Debt of Honor and Executive Orders Clancy decided to make his right-wing politics much more central to his books, and it’s no coincidence that this decidedly not right-wing reader found those novels much less appealing; I made it through Rainbox Six and then said “No mas.” But honesty compels me to admit that in looking back at the Clancy books I loved, a list headed by The Hunt for Red October and Red Storm Rising , I find them full of similarly objectionable adulation for the military, contempt for the “bureaucrats” who try to limit it, xenophobia (other than toward foreigners who are also true soldiers, who are wonderful in every culture), and more. They may have been better novels than the later books, that is, but I still feel pretty guilty about how much pleasure I got out of them.Yet if I move beyond that guilt, I think it’s fair to say that I can learn a good deal from my youthful infatuation with the Clancy. Partly, of course, I can learn about how talented, best-selling authors find their niche audiences and deliver the goods—for Clancy, it’s fair to say that middle school boys (or men who haven’t quite outgrown that phase) are a core such audience, and he gave us all the submarine battles, tank warfare, and macho heroics we could handle. (In Red Storm, a meek weatherman finds his inner macho warrior and wins a blonde Icelandic beauty.) But Clancy’s appeal isn’t that simple—I’m sure there are lots of authors who write about similar subjects and themes and would not have done it for me nearly as fully. He also constructs perfect thriller plots, whether on a small scale (as in October) or the broadest (as in Storm); and the truth, even if we lit snobs don’t like to admit it, is that the same can be said for many of the great novels. Scarlet Letter? Absalom? Beloved? All thrillers in their own way, perfectly plotted to lead us to their climactic revelations. I’m not saying Clancy is on par with those folks—but they’re all writers, all novels, and all worth our analytical time.Last popular fiction post tomorrow,BenPS. What do you think? Thoughts on Clancy or similar authors? Suggestions, favorites, or other responses?
On learning from the popular fictions that (eventually) make us cringe.He wasn’t the first author I truly loved—that honor would go, if I have to settle on one, to Edward Ormondroyd. Nor was he the first in whose library I read multiple works—Tolkien takes that crown, as I ploughed through The Hobbit and The Lord of the Ringsin the summer before 6th grade. But Tolkien’s books are all connected, and in fact he even considered Lord of the Rings one long novel (it was his publisher who insisted that it be divided into a trilogy). And so I would have to admit that the first author for whom I read multiple unconnected books—who, that is, inspired me to check out different offerings not because a series compelled me, but just because I needed more—was none other than the dean of American military and espionage porn, Tom Clancy.It’s easy, and not entirely inaccurate, to claim that the Clancy beloved to 11 year old AmericanStudier was substantially different than the author has become in the decades since. I would certainly argue that around the time of Debt of Honor and Executive Orders Clancy decided to make his right-wing politics much more central to his books, and it’s no coincidence that this decidedly not right-wing reader found those novels much less appealing; I made it through Rainbox Six and then said “No mas.” But honesty compels me to admit that in looking back at the Clancy books I loved, a list headed by The Hunt for Red October and Red Storm Rising , I find them full of similarly objectionable adulation for the military, contempt for the “bureaucrats” who try to limit it, xenophobia (other than toward foreigners who are also true soldiers, who are wonderful in every culture), and more. They may have been better novels than the later books, that is, but I still feel pretty guilty about how much pleasure I got out of them.Yet if I move beyond that guilt, I think it’s fair to say that I can learn a good deal from my youthful infatuation with the Clancy. Partly, of course, I can learn about how talented, best-selling authors find their niche audiences and deliver the goods—for Clancy, it’s fair to say that middle school boys (or men who haven’t quite outgrown that phase) are a core such audience, and he gave us all the submarine battles, tank warfare, and macho heroics we could handle. (In Red Storm, a meek weatherman finds his inner macho warrior and wins a blonde Icelandic beauty.) But Clancy’s appeal isn’t that simple—I’m sure there are lots of authors who write about similar subjects and themes and would not have done it for me nearly as fully. He also constructs perfect thriller plots, whether on a small scale (as in October) or the broadest (as in Storm); and the truth, even if we lit snobs don’t like to admit it, is that the same can be said for many of the great novels. Scarlet Letter? Absalom? Beloved? All thrillers in their own way, perfectly plotted to lead us to their climactic revelations. I’m not saying Clancy is on par with those folks—but they’re all writers, all novels, and all worth our analytical time.Last popular fiction post tomorrow,BenPS. What do you think? Thoughts on Clancy or similar authors? Suggestions, favorites, or other responses?
March 6, 2013
March 6, 2013: Popular Fiction: Small-Town Soaps
[In this week’s series, I’ll be considering some authors, texts, and contexts related to a much-maligned (in certain circles at least) but vital part of American literature: popular fiction. Your responses, favorites, critiques, and other takes will be welcome for what’s sure to be a popular crowd-sourced weekend post.]
On two distinct authors and works that together embody a dominant popular trend.Sinclair Lewis was the first American writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, and in the course of a forty-year publishing career engaged with some of 20th century America’s most complex and serious themes. Grace Metalious wrote four controversial pot-boilers in the span of seven years, before dying at the tragically young age of 39 from cirrhosis of the liver. Similarly, while Main Street (1920) and Peyton Place (1956) can both be described as the novels that launched these two writers’ respective careers, they occupy profoundly distinct places in those arcs: Lewis followed Main Streetwith more than 15 other novels, including the more consistently acclaimed Babbitt (1922), Arrowsmith (1925), and Elmer Gantry (1927); while Metalious followed Peyton Place with a sequel, Return to Peyton Place (1959), attempting unsuccessfully to recapture that first book’s meteoric success.So they’re different, these two authors overall and these two novels in particular. But as their titles might suggest, the novels are also pretty similar on a couple key levels: they both focus on a realistic yet also symbolic setting, a defining small-town locale (Lewis’ in the Midwest, Metalious’ in New England) that represents such environments across the nation; and they both seek to complicate and undermine the ideals associated with that setting, revealing some of the more secretive and divisive forces operating underneath the pastoral surface. Like the mega-hit TV show Desperate Housewives in our own era, that is (or like the ever-increasing reality TV spin-offs about “Real Housewives,”although those tend to be set in bigger cities), both of these novels, whatever their differences, can perhaps best be described as part of a century-long American obsession with small-town soap operas.So how would an AmericanStudier account for that genre’s consistent popularity? I’d have to start by thinking about two distinct but ultimately interconnected ways in which it appeals to American (and probably human, but I am an AmericanStudier) audiences. For one thing, there’s our collective nostalgia, which as I’ve argued before in this space connects to idyllic past spaces even if, for many of us, we’ve never actually had them in our communities and lives. Small town main street is one such shared, nostalgic place to be sure (just ask Bob Seger). But on the other hand, I think we like nothing better than to imagine the tawdry realities beneath such perfect exteriors, perhaps to make ourselves feel better about all the darker (or just more human) sides to our own communities and identities. These aren’t, again, uniquely American impulses, as Flaubert and his famous Madame nicely illustrate. But in a nation so defined by the image of “Main Street,” they’re particularly prominent and popular ones I’d say.Next popular fiction post tomorrow,BenPS. What do you think? Thoughts on these texts and themes? Suggestions, favorites, or other responses?
On two distinct authors and works that together embody a dominant popular trend.Sinclair Lewis was the first American writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, and in the course of a forty-year publishing career engaged with some of 20th century America’s most complex and serious themes. Grace Metalious wrote four controversial pot-boilers in the span of seven years, before dying at the tragically young age of 39 from cirrhosis of the liver. Similarly, while Main Street (1920) and Peyton Place (1956) can both be described as the novels that launched these two writers’ respective careers, they occupy profoundly distinct places in those arcs: Lewis followed Main Streetwith more than 15 other novels, including the more consistently acclaimed Babbitt (1922), Arrowsmith (1925), and Elmer Gantry (1927); while Metalious followed Peyton Place with a sequel, Return to Peyton Place (1959), attempting unsuccessfully to recapture that first book’s meteoric success.So they’re different, these two authors overall and these two novels in particular. But as their titles might suggest, the novels are also pretty similar on a couple key levels: they both focus on a realistic yet also symbolic setting, a defining small-town locale (Lewis’ in the Midwest, Metalious’ in New England) that represents such environments across the nation; and they both seek to complicate and undermine the ideals associated with that setting, revealing some of the more secretive and divisive forces operating underneath the pastoral surface. Like the mega-hit TV show Desperate Housewives in our own era, that is (or like the ever-increasing reality TV spin-offs about “Real Housewives,”although those tend to be set in bigger cities), both of these novels, whatever their differences, can perhaps best be described as part of a century-long American obsession with small-town soap operas.So how would an AmericanStudier account for that genre’s consistent popularity? I’d have to start by thinking about two distinct but ultimately interconnected ways in which it appeals to American (and probably human, but I am an AmericanStudier) audiences. For one thing, there’s our collective nostalgia, which as I’ve argued before in this space connects to idyllic past spaces even if, for many of us, we’ve never actually had them in our communities and lives. Small town main street is one such shared, nostalgic place to be sure (just ask Bob Seger). But on the other hand, I think we like nothing better than to imagine the tawdry realities beneath such perfect exteriors, perhaps to make ourselves feel better about all the darker (or just more human) sides to our own communities and identities. These aren’t, again, uniquely American impulses, as Flaubert and his famous Madame nicely illustrate. But in a nation so defined by the image of “Main Street,” they’re particularly prominent and popular ones I’d say.Next popular fiction post tomorrow,BenPS. What do you think? Thoughts on these texts and themes? Suggestions, favorites, or other responses?
March 5, 2013
March 5, 2013: Popular Fiction: Christian Novels
[In this week’s series, I’ll be considering some authors, texts, and contexts related to a much-maligned (in certain circles at least) but vital part of American literature: popular fiction. Your responses, favorites, critiques, and other takes will be welcome for what’s sure to be a popular crowd-sourced weekend post.]
On one of the most consistent, yet often overlooked, categories of best-selling American fiction.I’d be willing to bet that a fair number of my fellow AmericanStudiers haven’t heard of one of the couple best-selling American novels of the 19th century: Charles Sheldon’s In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do?(1897), which has sold some 30 million copies and counting. Moreover, while I’m sure that many more folks have heard of one of its chief competitors for the century’s sales crown, Lew Wallace’s Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ(1880), I would likewise wager that the Charlton Heston film is far more well-known than Wallace’s hugely popular novel (which from the time of its publication on outsold Uncle Tom’s Cabin, perhaps the only 19th century novel to do so). The two novels are distinct in many ways, including time period (Sheldon’s is set in the present, Wallace’s a historical novel), but of course share one central similarity, as their overt subtitles indicate.In yesterday’s post, I argued that it would be difficult to AmericanStudy our contemporary society without an awareness of Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series. I’d stick to that position, but would be hard-pressed to argue that Meyer’s books, or any other recent publications, have been more popular than Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins’s Left Behind novels. The 16 Left Behind books have sold upwards of 100 million copies , which at a time of proliferating entertainment options (nobody in Sheldon and Wallace’s day could choose CDs, DVDs, or cable TV over reading a novel) is a truly striking number. This series represents a cultural force that cannot be dismissed or ignored—except for the fact that, it seems to me, many of us AmericanStudiers do tend to ignore it. And I’m including myself in the mix very fully, as I know far more about Twilight(without having read a word), or even about Fifty Shades of Grey , than I do about LaHaye and Jenkins’ series.Is that ignorance, and the parallel lack of awareness about Sheldon and Wallace’s earlier novels (which, in the interests of full disclosure, I know about mostly because my Dad once taught a class on best-selling novels and talked about them with me), a result of the gap between the relatively non-religious academic community and the still largely religious (if evolving) broader American one? I’m sure that’s part of it. But I think it also relates to another complex aspect of popular fiction, as it relates to scholarly work. These are, quite simply, not conventionally, and certainly not academically, good novels—they’re not well-written, they’re not nuanced, they don’t reward further study and analysis. But they’re unquestionably appealing, offer their audiences experiences and satisfactions that have endured across the centuries and made all of them among our best-selling literary works. Whatever our hesitations—and again, I’m speaking for myself first and foremost here—it’s time to get over them and get into this significant American genre.Next popular fiction post tomorrow,BenPS. What do you think? Thoughts on these texts and themes? Suggestions, favorites, or other responses?
On one of the most consistent, yet often overlooked, categories of best-selling American fiction.I’d be willing to bet that a fair number of my fellow AmericanStudiers haven’t heard of one of the couple best-selling American novels of the 19th century: Charles Sheldon’s In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do?(1897), which has sold some 30 million copies and counting. Moreover, while I’m sure that many more folks have heard of one of its chief competitors for the century’s sales crown, Lew Wallace’s Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ(1880), I would likewise wager that the Charlton Heston film is far more well-known than Wallace’s hugely popular novel (which from the time of its publication on outsold Uncle Tom’s Cabin, perhaps the only 19th century novel to do so). The two novels are distinct in many ways, including time period (Sheldon’s is set in the present, Wallace’s a historical novel), but of course share one central similarity, as their overt subtitles indicate.In yesterday’s post, I argued that it would be difficult to AmericanStudy our contemporary society without an awareness of Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series. I’d stick to that position, but would be hard-pressed to argue that Meyer’s books, or any other recent publications, have been more popular than Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins’s Left Behind novels. The 16 Left Behind books have sold upwards of 100 million copies , which at a time of proliferating entertainment options (nobody in Sheldon and Wallace’s day could choose CDs, DVDs, or cable TV over reading a novel) is a truly striking number. This series represents a cultural force that cannot be dismissed or ignored—except for the fact that, it seems to me, many of us AmericanStudiers do tend to ignore it. And I’m including myself in the mix very fully, as I know far more about Twilight(without having read a word), or even about Fifty Shades of Grey , than I do about LaHaye and Jenkins’ series.Is that ignorance, and the parallel lack of awareness about Sheldon and Wallace’s earlier novels (which, in the interests of full disclosure, I know about mostly because my Dad once taught a class on best-selling novels and talked about them with me), a result of the gap between the relatively non-religious academic community and the still largely religious (if evolving) broader American one? I’m sure that’s part of it. But I think it also relates to another complex aspect of popular fiction, as it relates to scholarly work. These are, quite simply, not conventionally, and certainly not academically, good novels—they’re not well-written, they’re not nuanced, they don’t reward further study and analysis. But they’re unquestionably appealing, offer their audiences experiences and satisfactions that have endured across the centuries and made all of them among our best-selling literary works. Whatever our hesitations—and again, I’m speaking for myself first and foremost here—it’s time to get over them and get into this significant American genre.Next popular fiction post tomorrow,BenPS. What do you think? Thoughts on these texts and themes? Suggestions, favorites, or other responses?
March 4, 2013
March 4, 2013: Popular Fiction: Cultural Work
[In this week’s series, I’ll be considering some authors, texts, and contexts related to a much-maligned (in certain circles at least) but vital part of American literature: popular fiction. Your responses, favorites, critiques, and other takes will be welcome for what’s sure to be a popular crowd-sourced weekend post.]
On the classic scholarly concept that can still help us think about what popular fiction does and means.On the short list of game-changing AmericanStudying scholarly texts has to be Jane Tompkins’ Sensational Designs: The Cultural Work of American Fiction, 1790-1860 (1986). One of a group of 1980s critics, along with Nina Baym, Cathy Davidson, and others, who helped challenge, redefine, and significantly expand the canon of early American literature, Tompkins did so by rethinking what makes a literary work “great.” In her argument, such greatness, both in a work’s own moment and in helping it endure across generations, comes less from intrinsic or aesthetic qualities and more from how the work and its author engage with and impact their society. Tompkins called that social impact “cultural work,” and the phrase and concept have contributed to numerous other scholarly perspectives and analyses since she coined them.I think the concept can still do a lot of, well, work for our AmericanStudies analyses, but would also extend it in two ways that Tompkins’ original book didn’t (at least not as focal points). Tompkins focuses on authors and works that she sees as doing their cultural work purposefully, as seeking overtly to impact their societies (with Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin as exhibit A); but to my mind it’s just as interesting to think about the less purposeful work that other texts, and perhaps especially popular fictions, do. To cite a recent, hugely successful example: I don’t know that anybody would argue that Stephanie Meyer intended for her Twilight books to impact their society, so much as she hoped (correctly) that they would impact her pocketbook; but it’s difficult to overstate the work that the series, and the subsequent film adaptations, have done in our 21st century moment. In fact, it’d be fair to say that you couldn’t AmericanStudy early 21stcentury America without at least an awareness of Twilight.Besides extending “cultural work” to include such less deliberate versions, I also believe there’s value in applying the concept to the work done around and with, as well as by, popular fictions. For example, no figure or institution has done more cultural work with popular literature in the last few decades than Oprah Winfrey and her Oprah’s Book Club. Whether you applaud her work in bringing authors like Toni Morrison to a wider audience, join Jonathan Franzen in (at least initially) bemoaning her influence, or fall anywhere else on the spectrum of responses, it’s impossible to deny that the landscape of late 20th and early 21st century American literature was potently and irrevocably impacted by Oprah’s choices and conversations. I don’t think cultural work gets any clearer, or more worth studying, than that.Next popular fiction post tomorrow,BenPS. What do you think? Thoughts on these themes? Suggestions, favorites, or other responses?
On the classic scholarly concept that can still help us think about what popular fiction does and means.On the short list of game-changing AmericanStudying scholarly texts has to be Jane Tompkins’ Sensational Designs: The Cultural Work of American Fiction, 1790-1860 (1986). One of a group of 1980s critics, along with Nina Baym, Cathy Davidson, and others, who helped challenge, redefine, and significantly expand the canon of early American literature, Tompkins did so by rethinking what makes a literary work “great.” In her argument, such greatness, both in a work’s own moment and in helping it endure across generations, comes less from intrinsic or aesthetic qualities and more from how the work and its author engage with and impact their society. Tompkins called that social impact “cultural work,” and the phrase and concept have contributed to numerous other scholarly perspectives and analyses since she coined them.I think the concept can still do a lot of, well, work for our AmericanStudies analyses, but would also extend it in two ways that Tompkins’ original book didn’t (at least not as focal points). Tompkins focuses on authors and works that she sees as doing their cultural work purposefully, as seeking overtly to impact their societies (with Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin as exhibit A); but to my mind it’s just as interesting to think about the less purposeful work that other texts, and perhaps especially popular fictions, do. To cite a recent, hugely successful example: I don’t know that anybody would argue that Stephanie Meyer intended for her Twilight books to impact their society, so much as she hoped (correctly) that they would impact her pocketbook; but it’s difficult to overstate the work that the series, and the subsequent film adaptations, have done in our 21st century moment. In fact, it’d be fair to say that you couldn’t AmericanStudy early 21stcentury America without at least an awareness of Twilight.Besides extending “cultural work” to include such less deliberate versions, I also believe there’s value in applying the concept to the work done around and with, as well as by, popular fictions. For example, no figure or institution has done more cultural work with popular literature in the last few decades than Oprah Winfrey and her Oprah’s Book Club. Whether you applaud her work in bringing authors like Toni Morrison to a wider audience, join Jonathan Franzen in (at least initially) bemoaning her influence, or fall anywhere else on the spectrum of responses, it’s impossible to deny that the landscape of late 20th and early 21st century American literature was potently and irrevocably impacted by Oprah’s choices and conversations. I don’t think cultural work gets any clearer, or more worth studying, than that.Next popular fiction post tomorrow,BenPS. What do you think? Thoughts on these themes? Suggestions, favorites, or other responses?
March 2, 2013
March 2-3, 2013: February 2013 Recap
[I’d still love your nominations for my roundtable on the national Big Read! But here’s a recap of the month that was in AmericanStudying.]
February 1: Football in America, Part Four: The series concludes with a post on the different AmericanStudies connections of football in the Lonestar State.February 2-3: Crowd-sourced Super Bowl: Crowd-sourced responses to the week’s football-inspired series. Add yours to help us run up the score!February 4: Remembering Wheatley and Washington: A Black History month series on compelling conversations starts with the poet and the (future) president.February 5: Remembering Delany and Lincoln: The series continues with a post on the visitor who helped change the course of a war.February 6: Remembering Crummell and Douglass: The complex and crucial post-bellum debate between two titans, as the series rolls on. February 7: Remembering Washington and Roosevelt: Guess who came to dinner? Booker T. Washington, that’s who.February 8: Remembering Baldwin and Buckley: The series concludes with the many sides of a telling 1960s debate.February 9-10: Crowd-sourced Remembering: A nomination for another Black History remembrance. Add yours, please!February 11: I Love the Shaws: A Valentine’s series on AmericanStudies loves starts with a very impressive parental decision.February 12: I Love Chesnutt in His Journals: The series continues with the inspiring private reflections of the author I love most.February 13: I Love Plath’s Most Personal Poem: The under-remembered and hugely moving poem we should all show some love.February 14: I Love Three Pages in Ceremony: The amazingly rich and inspiring three pages of one of my favorite American novels, as the series rolls on.February 15: I Love Memento’s Closing Monologue: The series concludes with the universal yet very American closing moments of one of my favorite recent films.February 16-17: Crowd-soured Love: A few other AmericanStudies loves—I’d love for you to add some of yours!February 18: AmericanStudiers To Watch, Part One: A series on AmericanStudies scholars to keep an eye on kicks off with three Native AmericanStudiers.February 19: AmericanStudiers To Watch, Part Two: The series continues with three scholars who exemplify the different sides of childhood studies.February 20: AmericanStudiers To Watch, Part Three: Three interesting scholarly takes on race and childhood in America, as the series rolls on.February 21: AmericanStudiers To Watch, Part Four: On the website and digital project that illustrates the best of what digital humanities can be and offer.February 22: AmericanStudiers To Watch, Part Five: The series concludes with three multi-lingual AmericanStudiers with whom I was honored to share an MLA panel.February 23-24: Crowd-sourced AmericanStudiers to Watch: Responses to the week’s posts and other AmericanStudiers to watch. Who are you watching?February 25-28: The Even Bigger Read Still Needs You!: That aforementioned request for nominations for a National Big Read!Next series starts Monday,BenPS. Things you’d like to see in this space in the months ahead? Guest posts you want to contribute? Let me know, here or by email (brailton@fitchburgstate.edu)!
February 1: Football in America, Part Four: The series concludes with a post on the different AmericanStudies connections of football in the Lonestar State.February 2-3: Crowd-sourced Super Bowl: Crowd-sourced responses to the week’s football-inspired series. Add yours to help us run up the score!February 4: Remembering Wheatley and Washington: A Black History month series on compelling conversations starts with the poet and the (future) president.February 5: Remembering Delany and Lincoln: The series continues with a post on the visitor who helped change the course of a war.February 6: Remembering Crummell and Douglass: The complex and crucial post-bellum debate between two titans, as the series rolls on. February 7: Remembering Washington and Roosevelt: Guess who came to dinner? Booker T. Washington, that’s who.February 8: Remembering Baldwin and Buckley: The series concludes with the many sides of a telling 1960s debate.February 9-10: Crowd-sourced Remembering: A nomination for another Black History remembrance. Add yours, please!February 11: I Love the Shaws: A Valentine’s series on AmericanStudies loves starts with a very impressive parental decision.February 12: I Love Chesnutt in His Journals: The series continues with the inspiring private reflections of the author I love most.February 13: I Love Plath’s Most Personal Poem: The under-remembered and hugely moving poem we should all show some love.February 14: I Love Three Pages in Ceremony: The amazingly rich and inspiring three pages of one of my favorite American novels, as the series rolls on.February 15: I Love Memento’s Closing Monologue: The series concludes with the universal yet very American closing moments of one of my favorite recent films.February 16-17: Crowd-soured Love: A few other AmericanStudies loves—I’d love for you to add some of yours!February 18: AmericanStudiers To Watch, Part One: A series on AmericanStudies scholars to keep an eye on kicks off with three Native AmericanStudiers.February 19: AmericanStudiers To Watch, Part Two: The series continues with three scholars who exemplify the different sides of childhood studies.February 20: AmericanStudiers To Watch, Part Three: Three interesting scholarly takes on race and childhood in America, as the series rolls on.February 21: AmericanStudiers To Watch, Part Four: On the website and digital project that illustrates the best of what digital humanities can be and offer.February 22: AmericanStudiers To Watch, Part Five: The series concludes with three multi-lingual AmericanStudiers with whom I was honored to share an MLA panel.February 23-24: Crowd-sourced AmericanStudiers to Watch: Responses to the week’s posts and other AmericanStudiers to watch. Who are you watching?February 25-28: The Even Bigger Read Still Needs You!: That aforementioned request for nominations for a National Big Read!Next series starts Monday,BenPS. Things you’d like to see in this space in the months ahead? Guest posts you want to contribute? Let me know, here or by email (brailton@fitchburgstate.edu)!
February 25, 2013
February 25-28, 2013: The Even Bigger Read Still Needs You!
[Last week’s conference-inspired series got me thinking about my next conference, the Northeast MLA (NeMLA) convention in Boston (the weekend of March 21-24). I’ll be doing a few different things there, including starting a term as Second Vice President and giving a paper on José Antonio Vargas and the Tuscon Mexican American Studies protests. But it’s this roundtable I’m chairing for which I’d love your input!]
I’ll paste below the description of my NeMLA Roundtable, “The Even Bigger Read: Making American Literature National.” I’ve got six great participants who will share their nominations for one book all Americans should read at the same time (a la the more regional current Big Read program), along with one audience member who has interviewed the founder of the Big Read and will share his thoughts. But I hope that the question and answer session can include lots of other nominations and discussion—not only from the audience present at the roundtable, but from you all as well! So please share any and all nominations for a national Big Read, and I’ll be sure to bring your ideas to the roundtable (and credit you accordingly!).The description:“The Even Bigger Read: Making American Literature NationalFor those of us who care about making American literature more public, more connected to all Americans and their experiences, identities, and perspectives, the NEA’s Big Read program represents a great model for such efforts. Since its pilot project in 2006, The Big Read has brought a number of great, complex, vital works of American literature to local communities and schools, getting lots of Americans reading and engaging with those works in the process. Yet the program is explicitly local, with different communities reading different books—there are both practical and philosophical arguments in support of that local element, but it does leave room for a more genuinely shared, national engagement with American literature.In this roundtable session, I’ll take nominations for a nationwide Big Read—books (in any genre) that should be read and engaged with by all Americans. We’ll talk not only about why, about what makes these works so vital and broadly significant, but about the effects, of what in our public conversations, narratives, communities, identities, histories, and stories would change if we read these books as a nation. We’ll also take suggestions and ideas from the audience.This conversation can help us not only further define American literature and culture, as we collectively understand them, but also envision our own roles and purposes as public scholars of American literature and identity. And since I’m an advisor for the in-development American Writers Museum, I’ll also bring these ideas to that institution, to help shape how it reflects our most shared and significant literary works.”So what do you think? What book should all Americans read at once? Nominate below, and I’ll bring your ideas to Boston in March!February recap on Friday,BenPS. You know what to do!
I’ll paste below the description of my NeMLA Roundtable, “The Even Bigger Read: Making American Literature National.” I’ve got six great participants who will share their nominations for one book all Americans should read at the same time (a la the more regional current Big Read program), along with one audience member who has interviewed the founder of the Big Read and will share his thoughts. But I hope that the question and answer session can include lots of other nominations and discussion—not only from the audience present at the roundtable, but from you all as well! So please share any and all nominations for a national Big Read, and I’ll be sure to bring your ideas to the roundtable (and credit you accordingly!).The description:“The Even Bigger Read: Making American Literature NationalFor those of us who care about making American literature more public, more connected to all Americans and their experiences, identities, and perspectives, the NEA’s Big Read program represents a great model for such efforts. Since its pilot project in 2006, The Big Read has brought a number of great, complex, vital works of American literature to local communities and schools, getting lots of Americans reading and engaging with those works in the process. Yet the program is explicitly local, with different communities reading different books—there are both practical and philosophical arguments in support of that local element, but it does leave room for a more genuinely shared, national engagement with American literature.In this roundtable session, I’ll take nominations for a nationwide Big Read—books (in any genre) that should be read and engaged with by all Americans. We’ll talk not only about why, about what makes these works so vital and broadly significant, but about the effects, of what in our public conversations, narratives, communities, identities, histories, and stories would change if we read these books as a nation. We’ll also take suggestions and ideas from the audience.This conversation can help us not only further define American literature and culture, as we collectively understand them, but also envision our own roles and purposes as public scholars of American literature and identity. And since I’m an advisor for the in-development American Writers Museum, I’ll also bring these ideas to that institution, to help shape how it reflects our most shared and significant literary works.”So what do you think? What book should all Americans read at once? Nominate below, and I’ll bring your ideas to Boston in March!February recap on Friday,BenPS. You know what to do!
February 23, 2013
February 23-24, 2013: Crowd-sourced AmericanStudiers to Watch
[One of my ongoing resolutions is to attend more conferences—for lots of reasons, but especially to connect with my fellow scholars. This week, I’ve highlighted some impressive AmericanStudiers I’ve recently had the chance to meet and see in action, both at November’s American Studies Association conference and at January’s Modern Language Association one. These crowd-sourced suggestions are drawn from other, equally impressive AmericanStudiers—and I am sure there are plenty more folks to highlight, so add your thoughts, please!]
Monica Jackson follows up my thoughts on Nicholas Syrett’s talk on child brides by noting that his subject, “reminded me of a book I've been meaning to read. The book is called I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced . It is a biography of a young girl in Yemen. I'm sure you've heard of it. After working with kids, it's hard to read or hear about the things that some kids go through, but it is important to become aware of these things so that change can happen (as it did for Nujood).”My fellow New England AmericanStudier Aaron Leckliderhas just published his first book, which looks like a wonderful AmericanStudies project and one I can’t wait to read.Also, I’d like to highlight the work of blog reader and fellow blogger and AmericanStudier Thomas Basboll, someone from whom I think we’ll be hearing a lot more in the years to come.Finally, I’d like to remind you that all the posts categorized under the heading “Scholarly Reviews” feature other AmericanStudiers to watch, read, and think about!Next series starts Monday,BenPS. AmericanStudies scholars, projects, websites, or work you’d highlight? Share ‘em please!
Monica Jackson follows up my thoughts on Nicholas Syrett’s talk on child brides by noting that his subject, “reminded me of a book I've been meaning to read. The book is called I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced . It is a biography of a young girl in Yemen. I'm sure you've heard of it. After working with kids, it's hard to read or hear about the things that some kids go through, but it is important to become aware of these things so that change can happen (as it did for Nujood).”My fellow New England AmericanStudier Aaron Leckliderhas just published his first book, which looks like a wonderful AmericanStudies project and one I can’t wait to read.Also, I’d like to highlight the work of blog reader and fellow blogger and AmericanStudier Thomas Basboll, someone from whom I think we’ll be hearing a lot more in the years to come.Finally, I’d like to remind you that all the posts categorized under the heading “Scholarly Reviews” feature other AmericanStudiers to watch, read, and think about!Next series starts Monday,BenPS. AmericanStudies scholars, projects, websites, or work you’d highlight? Share ‘em please!
February 22, 2013
February 22, 2013: AmericanStudiers to Watch, Part Five
[One of my ongoing resolutions is to attend more conferences—for lots of reasons, but especially to connect with my fellow scholars. This week, I’ll be briefly highlighting some impressive AmericanStudiers I’ve recently had the chance to meet and see in action, both at November’s American Studies Association conference and at January’s Modern Language Association one. Would love to hear your suggestions for other AmericanStudiers to watch, and will compile the ongoing list for the weekend post!]
On three young scholars with whom I was fortunate enough to share a multi-lingual conversation.At the MLA conference, I gave a talk on a panel organized by the discussion group on Literatures of the U.S. in Languages Other Than English, and its outgoing president Heidi Kim. It was a very positive experience, most especially because of the other three AmericanStudiers on the panel:1) , an Assistant Professor of English at the U.S. Naval Academy, presented on the complex roles of English, Chinese, and hybrid combinations of both in short stories by one of my favorite American authors, Sui Sin Far. Her readings of the individual stories were nuanced and compelling, but she also did a great job framing broader historical, cultural, ethnic, and linguistic contexts for those works and Far’s unique and impressive career.2) Osvaldo Oyola, a graduate student in English at SUNY Binghamton, spoke on English, Spanish, Spanglish, Dork, and the many other languages and dialects at the heart of Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2008). As befitting Díaz’s novel, his talk was funny and irreverent, but without losing sight of the significant, complex, and vital themes to which the book and its languages connect. I’m excited to see where he takes his dissertation, of which this talk will be a part.3) Melissa Dennihy, a graduate student in English at the CUNY Graduate Center, paralleled Osvaldo’s talk (as I did Audrey’s) with a broader engagement with multilingual novels and themes in 21st century American literature. She pointed me to a number of books I need to read—I’m especially interested in Fae Myenne Ng’s Bone (1993), with its protagonist who works as a public school translator—but also and more importantly did a great job identifying the stakes of these literary and linguistic questions for our most crucial issues of national identity, community, and future.Three great talks, and one more reminder why I need to get to more conferences! Crowd-sourced post this weekend,BenPS. So who are some AmericanStudiers to watch whom you’d highlight? Share ‘em for that post please!
On three young scholars with whom I was fortunate enough to share a multi-lingual conversation.At the MLA conference, I gave a talk on a panel organized by the discussion group on Literatures of the U.S. in Languages Other Than English, and its outgoing president Heidi Kim. It was a very positive experience, most especially because of the other three AmericanStudiers on the panel:1) , an Assistant Professor of English at the U.S. Naval Academy, presented on the complex roles of English, Chinese, and hybrid combinations of both in short stories by one of my favorite American authors, Sui Sin Far. Her readings of the individual stories were nuanced and compelling, but she also did a great job framing broader historical, cultural, ethnic, and linguistic contexts for those works and Far’s unique and impressive career.2) Osvaldo Oyola, a graduate student in English at SUNY Binghamton, spoke on English, Spanish, Spanglish, Dork, and the many other languages and dialects at the heart of Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2008). As befitting Díaz’s novel, his talk was funny and irreverent, but without losing sight of the significant, complex, and vital themes to which the book and its languages connect. I’m excited to see where he takes his dissertation, of which this talk will be a part.3) Melissa Dennihy, a graduate student in English at the CUNY Graduate Center, paralleled Osvaldo’s talk (as I did Audrey’s) with a broader engagement with multilingual novels and themes in 21st century American literature. She pointed me to a number of books I need to read—I’m especially interested in Fae Myenne Ng’s Bone (1993), with its protagonist who works as a public school translator—but also and more importantly did a great job identifying the stakes of these literary and linguistic questions for our most crucial issues of national identity, community, and future.Three great talks, and one more reminder why I need to get to more conferences! Crowd-sourced post this weekend,BenPS. So who are some AmericanStudiers to watch whom you’d highlight? Share ‘em for that post please!
February 21, 2013
February 21, 2013: AmericanStudiers to Watch, Part Four
[One of my ongoing resolutions is to attend more conferences—for lots of reasons, but especially to connect with my fellow scholars. This week, I’ll be briefly highlighting some impressive AmericanStudiers I’ve recently had the chance to meet and see in action, both at November’s American Studies Association conference and at January’s Modern Language Association one. Would love to hear your suggestions for other AmericanStudiers to watch, and will compile the ongoing list for the weekend post!]
On the project that exemplifies what digital humanities work can be and do.January’s MLA conference was full of digital elements and innovations, from the formal launch of the new MLA Commons social media site to numerous panels on the digital humanities, new media, electronic literatures, and more—and, of course, the many Tweets sent from most panels and about the conference overall, and the virtual conversations started (and in some cases still ongoing) as a result. But to my mind, the conference’s most interesting digital aspect was somewhat hidden away: the media art exhibit “Avenues of Access: An Exhibit & Online Archive of New ‘Born Digital’ Literature.”Fortunately, I ventured into the upstairs room that hosted the exhibit; all of its digital works were interesting, but as an AmericanStudier I was especially drawn to The Knotted Line . It feels silly for me to try to paraphrase or even summarize what creators Evan Bisselland Erik Loyer (and their many collaborators, researchers, and artists) have done there, so I strongly encourage you to click through to their project and explore. The site is strikingly and compellingly designed, which is obviously not at all unimportant when it comes to digital and electronic resources. But I have to admit that what impressed me most, and makes me most excited to find ways to bring the site into my classrooms, is that it has significantly more depth than many digital resources I have encountered. By that I mean partly the quantity and quality of the text components, but also the number of interconnected resources available at each stop on the site’s timeline, the ways in which the site highlights multiple historical and cultural contexts as well as contemporary links for each moment.Here’s one example, for a moment near and dear to my scholarly heart these days: the site’s page for the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. The page includes textual information not only about the Act, but about a trio of interestingly interconnected prior and subsequent moments: an 1867 railroad strike; the 1933 formation of the Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance; and a 2003 political action facilitated by the Chinese Progressive Association. It also includes two visual engagements with the moment and histories, a brief audio recording of a contemporary American reflecting on parallel issues, and a number of other resources and materials to help guide students and scholars to further investigations. The site as a whole in making a compelling AmericanStudies argument, about the links between such histories and our contemporary prison system; but as with any great scholarly work, it also helps those who encounter it find their own ideas and interpretations.Well worth your time, and a site that represents the cutting edge of great digital humanities work.Final scholars of the week tomorrow,BenPS. Responses to this project? Other AmericanStudies work or scholars you’d highlight?
On the project that exemplifies what digital humanities work can be and do.January’s MLA conference was full of digital elements and innovations, from the formal launch of the new MLA Commons social media site to numerous panels on the digital humanities, new media, electronic literatures, and more—and, of course, the many Tweets sent from most panels and about the conference overall, and the virtual conversations started (and in some cases still ongoing) as a result. But to my mind, the conference’s most interesting digital aspect was somewhat hidden away: the media art exhibit “Avenues of Access: An Exhibit & Online Archive of New ‘Born Digital’ Literature.”Fortunately, I ventured into the upstairs room that hosted the exhibit; all of its digital works were interesting, but as an AmericanStudier I was especially drawn to The Knotted Line . It feels silly for me to try to paraphrase or even summarize what creators Evan Bisselland Erik Loyer (and their many collaborators, researchers, and artists) have done there, so I strongly encourage you to click through to their project and explore. The site is strikingly and compellingly designed, which is obviously not at all unimportant when it comes to digital and electronic resources. But I have to admit that what impressed me most, and makes me most excited to find ways to bring the site into my classrooms, is that it has significantly more depth than many digital resources I have encountered. By that I mean partly the quantity and quality of the text components, but also the number of interconnected resources available at each stop on the site’s timeline, the ways in which the site highlights multiple historical and cultural contexts as well as contemporary links for each moment.Here’s one example, for a moment near and dear to my scholarly heart these days: the site’s page for the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. The page includes textual information not only about the Act, but about a trio of interestingly interconnected prior and subsequent moments: an 1867 railroad strike; the 1933 formation of the Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance; and a 2003 political action facilitated by the Chinese Progressive Association. It also includes two visual engagements with the moment and histories, a brief audio recording of a contemporary American reflecting on parallel issues, and a number of other resources and materials to help guide students and scholars to further investigations. The site as a whole in making a compelling AmericanStudies argument, about the links between such histories and our contemporary prison system; but as with any great scholarly work, it also helps those who encounter it find their own ideas and interpretations.Well worth your time, and a site that represents the cutting edge of great digital humanities work.Final scholars of the week tomorrow,BenPS. Responses to this project? Other AmericanStudies work or scholars you’d highlight?
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