Richard Salmon

Henry James and the Culture of Publicity

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

This book examines the relationship between the writings of Henry James and the historical formation of mass culture. Throughout his career, James was concerned with such characteristically modern cultural forms as advertising, biography, and the new journalism, forms which together he termed the 'devouring publicity' of modern life. Richard Salmon's study situates James's fiction and criticism within the context of the contemporary debates surrounding these rival discursive practices. He explores both the nature of James's contribution to the critique of mass culture and the extent of his immersion within it. James's persistent and ambivalent negotiation of the boundaries between private and public experience ranged from a defence of the artist's right to privacy, to his own counter-practice of self-publicity. By drawing upon contemporary critical theory, Salmon offers a reassessment of the politics of James's cultural criticism.

Table of contents:
Introduction; 1. Transformations of the public sphere in The Bostonians; 2. What the public wants: criticism, theatre and the 'masses'; 3. 'The insurmountable desire to know': privacy, biography, and The Aspern Papers; 4. The power of the press: from scandal to hunger; 5. The secret of the spectacle: advertising The Ambassadors; Postscript; Bibliography; Index.

This book examines the relationship between the writings of Henry James and such characteristically modern cultural forms as advertising, biography, and the new journalism. Richard Salmon's study explores James's contribution to the critique of mass culture and offers a reassessment of the politics of James's cultural criticism.

Examines Henry James's attitude to emerging forms of mass culture and reassesses his cultural criticism.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Cambridge University Press
• Seitenzahl: 246
• Erscheinungstermin: 11. Februar 2015
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 235mm x 157mm x 19mm
• Gewicht: 557g
• ISBN-13: 9780521562492
• ISBN-10: 052156249X
• Artikelnr.: 22091197

Inhaltsangabe

List of abbreviations
Introduction
1. Transformations of the public sphere in The Bostonians
2. What the public wants: criticism, theatre and the 'masses'
3. 'The insurmountable desire to know': privacy, biography and 'The Aspern Papers'
4. The power of the press: from scandal to hunger
5. The secret of the spectacle: advertising The Ambassadors
Postscript
Notes
Bibliography
Index.