A Kinder, Gentler America: Melancholia and the Mythical 1950s
(Paperback)
Available Formats
Publishing Details
A Kinder, Gentler America: Melancholia and the Mythical 1950s
By (Author) Mary Caputi
University of Minnesota Press
University of Minnesota Press
1st November 2005
United States
Classifications
Tertiary Education
Non Fiction
History of the Americas
973.921
Physical Properties
Paperback
216
Width 149mm, Height 229mm, Spine 13mm
Description
This book reveals how longing for the era of 'the greatest generation' actually exposes a disillusionment with the present. The author draws on the theoretical frameworks of Julia Kristeva and Walter Benjamin to look at how the decade has been portrayed in movies such as Pleasantville and Far from Heaven and delves further to investigate our disenchantment's lost origins in early modernity through a reading of the poetry of Baudelaire. What emerges is a stark contrast between the depictions of a melancholic present and a cheerful, shiny past.
Author Bio
Mary Caputi is professor of political science at California State University, Long Beach, and is author of Voluptuous Yearnings: A Feminist Theory of the Obscene.
