John G. Cawelti: Mystery, Violence, and Popular Culture UUSI

Emeritusprofessorin kirja amerikkalaisesta populaarikulttuurista. UUSI JA MUOVEISSA! Sisältää merkittävät esseet ajalta 1969-2003.

 Mystery, Violence, and Popular Culture is John G. Cawelti’s discussion of American popular culture and violence, from its precursors in Homer and Shakespeare to the Lone Ranger and Superman. Cawelti deciphers the overt sexuality, detached violence, and political intrigue embedded within Batman and .007. He analyzes the work of such famous pop-culture icons as Alfred Hitchcock, the Beatles, and Andy Warhol, and looks at a range of films, from Psycho and Dances with Wolves , and literature, from The Waste Land to Catch 22 .
    Examples from popular movies, television, literature, and music, according to the author, characterize the evolving psychological, sociological, and political state of a nation. The book explores the relationship between racial and cultural groups in popular media such as Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman .  Here also are new perspectives on mystery literature, the detective story, and twentieth-century mystery writers from one of the founders of popular culture studies.

Review

"One of the finest collections of its type I have ever read. Cawelti provides a ‘best of’ collection that summarizes a scholarly career unrivaled in the field. Mystery, Violence and Popular Culture will become a standard text in popular culture studies for years to come."—Gary Hoppenstand, Michigan State University, editor of the Journal of Popular Culture, and former PCA president

From the Publisher

Popular Press, A Ray and Pat Browne Book

From the Back Cover

"One of the finest collections of its type I have ever read. Cawelti provides a 'best of' collection that summarizes a scholarly career unrivaled in the field. Mystery, Violence and Popular Culture will become a standard text in popular culture studies for years to come."--Gary Hoppenstand, Michigan State University, editor of the Journal of Popular Culture, and former PCA president

About the Author

John G. Cawelti is professor emeritus of English and humanities at the University of Kentucky. His many books include Apostles of the Self-Made Man; Adventure, Mystery, and Romance; Leon Forrest; and The Six-Gun Mystique Sequel.

John George Cawelti (December 31, 1929 – May 30, 2022) was an American scholar and critic who wrote The Spy Story as well as works about the genres of detective fiction and westerns. He was also interested in science fiction and taught the course on it at the University of Chicago while there. He received the Quantrell Award.[1]

Cawelti was one of the pioneers in establishing an academic respectability to the study of popular culture. His 1971 book The Six Gun Mystiqueanalyzes the messages contained in the western novels which were very popular for many decades with the public. His seminal Adventure, Mystery, and Romance: Formula Stories as Art and Popular Culture dissected the formulas used in these popular genres and argued for their importance alongside "high" literature.