David Lynchs American Dreamscape: Music, Literature, Cinema

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How are David Lynchs films as much in dialogue with literary and musical traditions as they are cinematic ones By interrogating this question, David Lynchs American Dreamscape broadens the interpretive horizons of Lynchs filmography, calling for a new approach to Lynchs films that goes beyond cinema and visual art to explore how Lynchs work engages with literary and musical works that have shaped the American imagination. As much as Lynch stands as a singular artistic voice, his work arises from and taps into the cultural zeitgeist in a way that illuminates not only his approach to creativity but also the way works interact with each other in an age of mass media. From childrens literature to teen tragedy ballads, Nathanael West and Cormac McCarthy to folk music and mixtapes, David Lynchs American Dreamscape investigates the cultural frequencies Lynchs films tune into and positions Lynchs work as a conduit for American popular culture, a medium or channel through which the subconscious of American life finds its way into full view. The book expands upon this approach by discussing how artists such as David Foster Wallace and Lana Del Rey graft Lynchs affiliative, cinematic sensibility onto their own projects. Reading their work as intertextual engagements with Lynchs films further illustrates the versatile interactions among creators and audiences to generate more works, readers, and readings.

Author Bio

Mike Miley is the author of Truth and Consequences: Game Shows in Fiction and Film (2019) and co-editor of Conversations with Steve Erickson (2021). His writing has appeared in The Atlantic.com, Arizona Quarterly, Critique, Literature/Film Quarterly, Music and the Moving Image, The New Orleans Review, The North Dakota Quarterly, The Smart Set, and elsewhere. He lives in New Orleans.