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A Galaxy Not So Far Away: Writers and Artists on Twenty-five Years of Star Wars
A dazzling collection of original essays by some of America's most notable young writers on the cultural impact of the Star Wars films
A Galaxy Not So Far Away is the first ever exploration of the innumerable ways the Star Wars films have forever altered our cultural and artistic landscape. Edited by Glenn Kenny, a senior editor and critic at Premiere magazine, this singular collection allows some of the nation's most acclaimed writers to anatomize, criticize, celebrate, and sometimes simply riff on the prismatic aftereffects of an unparalleled American phenomenon. Jonathan Lethem writes of the summer he saw Star Wars twenty-one times as his mother lay dying of cancer. Neal Pollack chips in with the putative memoir of a certain young man having problems with his father, written in the voice of Holden Caulfield. Erika Krouse ponders the code of the Jedi Knight and its relation to her own pursuit of the martial arts. New York Times film critic Elvis Mitchell meditates upon the mysterious figure Lando Calrissian.
A classic assemblage of pop writing at its best, A Galaxy Not So Far Away is a book for everyone who loves Star Wars films and seeks to understand just what it is about these films that has so enchanted an entire generation of filmgoers.
A Galaxy Not So Far Away is the first ever exploration of the innumerable ways the Star Wars films have forever altered our cultural and artistic landscape. Edited by Glenn Kenny, a senior editor and critic at Premiere magazine, this singular collection allows some of the nation's most acclaimed writers to anatomize, criticize, celebrate, and sometimes simply riff on the prismatic aftereffects of an unparalleled American phenomenon. Jonathan Lethem writes of the summer he saw Star Wars twenty-one times as his mother lay dying of cancer. Neal Pollack chips in with the putative memoir of a certain young man having problems with his father, written in the voice of Holden Caulfield. Erika Krouse ponders the code of the Jedi Knight and its relation to her own pursuit of the martial arts. New York Times film critic Elvis Mitchell meditates upon the mysterious figure Lando Calrissian.
A classic assemblage of pop writing at its best, A Galaxy Not So Far Away is a book for everyone who loves Star Wars films and seeks to understand just what it is about these films that has so enchanted an entire generation of filmgoers.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 28, 2014
I was just out of graduate school and working in my first professional position when the first Star Wars movie (now known as “Episode 4”) came out. I loved it. I had been a confirmed pulp-SF addict since the mid-1950s, and I was predisposed to enjoy the film for what it was, not for what the critics thought it was (and what they apparently wanted me, as a card-carrying intellectual, to believe it was). But I’m not too proud to admit that I also loved 2001: A Space Odyssey and Close Encounters of the Third Kind when they came out. I mean, this stuff is great fun, right?
The stuffier film critics, though, decided that George Lucas had killed the movies -- just as there were cries of anguish back in the late ’20s, when the movies began to talk. Yes, the Star Wars universe has had a great influence on culture, and not just “pop” culture, but so have Gucci and Ronald Reagan and McDonald’s. Most of the contributors to this anthology are of an age to have grown up on Star Wars, and the distinction can easily be made between those who don’t take it, or themselves, too seriously (Jonathem Lethem, Neal Pollack, Erika Krouse, and Elwood Reed), and those for whom Lucas is Evil incarnate (notably Arion Berger and Tom Carson). The book is an interesting read for those, like me, with an interest in film-making and screenwriting that goes beyond just sitting there with a bag of popcorn, but I could only shake my head at some of the breast-beating Jeremiads.
The stuffier film critics, though, decided that George Lucas had killed the movies -- just as there were cries of anguish back in the late ’20s, when the movies began to talk. Yes, the Star Wars universe has had a great influence on culture, and not just “pop” culture, but so have Gucci and Ronald Reagan and McDonald’s. Most of the contributors to this anthology are of an age to have grown up on Star Wars, and the distinction can easily be made between those who don’t take it, or themselves, too seriously (Jonathem Lethem, Neal Pollack, Erika Krouse, and Elwood Reed), and those for whom Lucas is Evil incarnate (notably Arion Berger and Tom Carson). The book is an interesting read for those, like me, with an interest in film-making and screenwriting that goes beyond just sitting there with a bag of popcorn, but I could only shake my head at some of the breast-beating Jeremiads.
December 28, 2016
This was a collection of essays put out before Episode 3 came out, so it is not completely up to date with the Star Wars ulniverse. The common theme for almost all the writers was 'I was (7,8,9 or 10) when the original Star wars came out, and it was one of the defining things of my childhood'. From there, the essays go in many different directions, some social commentary, some political commentary, some personal commentary. It was a fun light read.
I started it before Carrie Fisher died, so it became bittersweet at the end.
As someone who was a teenager when SW came out in 1977, I really enjoyed it (and had a bit of a crush on Mark Hamill). But I remain a lightweight on the Star Wars geekdom scale.
I started it before Carrie Fisher died, so it became bittersweet at the end.
As someone who was a teenager when SW came out in 1977, I really enjoyed it (and had a bit of a crush on Mark Hamill). But I remain a lightweight on the Star Wars geekdom scale.
June 9, 2015
Read this book if you like Star Wars, pop culture, or personal essays.
Don't read this book if you thought Star Wars was overrated, you hate it when people tell stories, or you live under a rock and don't really know what this whole "Star Wars" thing is.
Field Notes: I picked this book up specifically for the essay "Pale Starship, Pale Rider: The Ambiguous Appeal of Boba Fett" (which did not disappoint, by the way), but the rest of the essays were interesting enough to merit me finishing the book. To be honest, it is a little bit of a mixed bag. "Pale Starship" was funny and insightful, "The Chrysanthemum and The Lightsaber" and "Becoming Darth Vader" were fascinating, and "Jedi Uber Alles" was very thought provoking. On the flip side, "Celebrating the Fiftieth Anniversary of Catcher in the Red-Eye" was unreadable, "Anakin, Get Your Gun" was supposed to be funny (I think?) but feel completely flat, and "A Big Dumb Movie About Space Wizards" was such a pile of poorly written, self-congratulatory bullshit that I read five pages of it before deciding that perhaps discretion really is the better part of valor and sparing myself from the rest of it. "Degobah, Nebraska" and "13, 1977, 21" were ok too, but not as memorable. However, I don't regret the time I spent reading it, which is a review within itself, I suppose. (Except for "A Big Dumb Movie About Space Wizards." I regret every second I spent on that.)
Final Recommendation: worth a read if you have a spare afternoon or two.
Don't read this book if you thought Star Wars was overrated, you hate it when people tell stories, or you live under a rock and don't really know what this whole "Star Wars" thing is.
Field Notes: I picked this book up specifically for the essay "Pale Starship, Pale Rider: The Ambiguous Appeal of Boba Fett" (which did not disappoint, by the way), but the rest of the essays were interesting enough to merit me finishing the book. To be honest, it is a little bit of a mixed bag. "Pale Starship" was funny and insightful, "The Chrysanthemum and The Lightsaber" and "Becoming Darth Vader" were fascinating, and "Jedi Uber Alles" was very thought provoking. On the flip side, "Celebrating the Fiftieth Anniversary of Catcher in the Red-Eye" was unreadable, "Anakin, Get Your Gun" was supposed to be funny (I think?) but feel completely flat, and "A Big Dumb Movie About Space Wizards" was such a pile of poorly written, self-congratulatory bullshit that I read five pages of it before deciding that perhaps discretion really is the better part of valor and sparing myself from the rest of it. "Degobah, Nebraska" and "13, 1977, 21" were ok too, but not as memorable. However, I don't regret the time I spent reading it, which is a review within itself, I suppose. (Except for "A Big Dumb Movie About Space Wizards." I regret every second I spent on that.)
Final Recommendation: worth a read if you have a spare afternoon or two.
December 10, 2012
Some essays are better than others. I could relate to the excitement of growing up Star Wars, the Sears Christmas catalog and all that good stuff. Many an action figure appeared in my Christmas stocking in my youth. My fave essay related to defending The Phantom Menace and Jar Jar Binks's existence. Priceless!
January 6, 2014
Fantastic book that shows a few things. First, it reflects that time right after 9\11. Second, it illustrates just how many different ways people can interpret the same set of silly movies and third it features some of the neatest little moments in writing I've come across in a while. most of it is good, but some of it is really damn good.
June 29, 2008
Some good stuff in here. It takes me out of it when one of the essays speaks well of Episodes I and II or brings up 9/11, though. Standouts include Elvis Mitchell's essay about Billy Dee Williams and America's greatest living writer (at least at the time of publication) Neal Pollock's spoof.
June 15, 2014
Highly technical layout. Informative and engaging in sections. An interesting odyssey through the eyes of those of us affected in one way or another by the Star Wars phenomena that had enraptured fans since "A New Hope" hit rolled across the silver screen in theaters nationwide.
November 14, 2007
lots of fun, even if you're not a star wars freak.
March 4, 2009
The different essays in this book were hit or miss for me. I either found them really interesting or I was bored to tears.
August 12, 2010
As might be expected in such a book, the quality of the essays is uneven. But some of them are pretty thought provoking.
Read
September 9, 2013As others found it: hit and miss. Neal Pollack's contribution was vile.
April 26, 2019
Couldn't finish it. Very pretentious and annoying.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews