Reading as Therapy : What Contemporary Fiction Does for Middle-Class Americans
Language: English
Published by University Of Iowa Press Mär 2011, 2011
- Softcover
- New
Seller: AHA-BUCH GmbH, Einbeck, GermanyAHA-BUCH GmbH
AbeBooks seller since August 14, 2006
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Add to basketItem description from seller
Neuware - Why do Americans read contemporary fiction This question seems simple, but is it Do Americans read for the purpose of aesthetic appreciation To satisfy their own insatiable intellectual curiosities While other forms of media have come to monopolize consumers' leisure time, in the past two decades book clubs have proliferated, Amazon has sponsored thriving online discussions, Oprah Winfrey has inspired millions of viewers to read both contemporary works and classics, and novels have retained their devoted following within middlebrow communities. In Reading as Therapy, Timothy Aubry argues that contemporary fiction serves primarily as a therapeutic tool for lonely, dissatisfied middle-class American readers, one that validates their own private dysfunctions while supporting elusive communities of strangers unified by shared feelings. Aubry persuasively makes the case that contemporary literature's persistent appeal depends upon its capacity to perform a therapeutic function. Aubry traces the growth and proliferation of psychological concepts focused on the subjective interior within mainstream, middle-class society and the impact this has had on contemporary fiction. The prevailing tendency among academic critics has been to decry the personal emphasis of contemporary fiction as complicit with the rise of a narcissistic culture, the ascendency of liberal individualism, and the breakdown of public life. Reading as Therapy, by contrast, underscores the varied ideological effects that therapeutic culture can foster. To uncover the many unpredictable ways in which contemporary literature answers the psychological needs of its readers, Aubry considers several different venues of reader-response--including Oprah's Book Club and Amazon customer reviews--the promotional strategies of publishing houses, and a variety of contemporary texts, ranging from Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner to Anita Shreve's The Pilot's Wife to David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest. He concludes that, in the face of an atomistic social landscape, contemporary fiction gives readers a therapeutic vocabulary that both reinforces the private sphere and creates surprising forms of sympathy and solidarity among strangers. …
Seller Inventory # 9781587299551
- Title
- Reading as Therapy : What Contemporary Fiction Does for Middle-Class Americans
- Author
- Timothy Aubry
- Publisher
- University Of Iowa Press Mär 2011
- Publication year
- 2011
- Condition
- Neu
- Binding
- Taschenbuch
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 1587299550
- ISBN 13
- 9781587299551
- Item weight
- 358 grams
- Dimensions
- 226x150x18 mm
In Reading as Therapy, Timothy Aubry argues that contemporary fiction serves primarily as a therapeutic tool for lonely, dissatisfied middle-class American readers, one that validates their own private dysfunctions while supporting elusive communities of strangers unified by shared feelings. Aubry persuasively makes the case that contemporary literature’s persistent appeal depends upon its capacity to perform a therapeutic function.
Aubry traces the growth and proliferation of psychological concepts focused on the subjective interior within mainstream, middle-class society and the impact this has had on contemporary fiction. The prevailing tendency among academic critics has been to decry the personal emphasis of contemporary fiction as complicit with the rise of a narcissistic culture, the ascendency of liberal individualism, and the breakdown of public life. Reading as Therapy, by contrast, underscores the varied ideological effects that therapeutic culture can foster.
To uncover the many unpredictable ways in which contemporary literature answers the psychological needs of its readers, Aubry considers several different venues of reader-response―including Oprah’s Book Club and Amazon customer reviews―the promotional strategies of publishing houses, and a variety of contemporary texts, ranging from Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner to Anita Shreve’s The Pilot’s Wife to David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest. He concludes that, in the face of an atomistic social landscape, contemporary fiction gives readers a therapeutic vocabulary that both reinforces the private sphere and creates surprising forms of sympathy and solidarity among strangers.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
Timothy Aubry is an associate professor of English at Baruch College, where he specializes in twentieth-century American literature, contemporary fiction, modernism, feminism, and popular culture.
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
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