Cigarette Lighter (Object Lessons) - Softcover

Jack Pendarvis

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1501307363 ISBN 13: 9781501307362

Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016

Synopsis

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.

Smokers, survivalists, teenagers, collectors . The cigarette lighter is a charged, complex, yet often entirely disposable object that moves across these various groups of people, acquiring and emitting different meanings while always supplying its primary function, that of ignition. While the lighter may seem at first a niche object only for old fashioned cigarette smokers in this book Jack Pendarvis explodes the lighter as something with deep history, as something with quirky episodes in cultural contexts, and as something that dances with wide ranging taboos and traditions. Pendarvis shows how the lighter tarries with the cheapest ends of consumer culture as much as it displays more profound dramas of human survival, technological advances, and aesthetics.

Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.

About this title

About the Author

Jack Pendarvis has published essays, book reviews, interviews and stories in McSweeneys, The LA Review of Books, and the New York Times, among other publications. He is a former columnist for The Believer and The Oxford American and is the author of two books of short stories and a novel. He recently received an Emmy for his work on the Peabody Award-winning show Adventure Time.

From the Back Cover

Smokers, survivalists, teenagers, collectors…. The cigarette lighter is a charged, complex, yet often entirely disposable object that moves across these various groups of people, acquiring and emitting different meanings while always supplying its primary function, that of ignition. While the lighter may seem at first a niche object-only for old fashioned cigarette smokers-in this book Jack Pendarvis explodes the lighter as something with deep history, as something with quirky episodes in cultural contexts, and as something that dances with wide ranging taboos and traditions. Pendarvis shows how the lighter tarries with the cheapest ends of consumer culture as much as it displays more profound dramas of human survival, technological advances, and aesthetics.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1501307363
• ISBN 13: 9781501307362
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 152