Description
Book SynopsisThe subject of the aesthetic has returned to cultural and literary debates with a vengeance. This collection of essays analyzes the role of aesthetics in American and British cultural studies, and reflects on its recuperation in the field.
Trade Review"This book is a refreshing reminder that cultural studies of pleasure can (and should) be pleasurable. Interesting questions, engaging voices, rueful disagreements, startling juxtapositions of topic and concept. A book to make you laugh while thinking and think while laughing. What more could anyone want?"
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Simon Frith, University of Stirling
"These essays are both timely and hard-hitting. The Aesthetics of Cultural Studies shows how crucial the provocation of cultural studies has been and remains for aesthetic thought. No grown-up or wide-awake account of the place and possibilities of the aesthetic can afford to ignore the arguments convened here."
--Steven Connor, Birkbeck College
Table of ContentsNotes on Contributors.
Introduction: Engaging the Aesthetic (Michael Berube).
1 The Role of Aesthetics in Cultural Studies (Rita Felski).
2 On Literature in Cultural Studies (John Frow).
3 Excessive Practices: Aesthetics, Erotica, and Cultural Studies (Jane Juffer).
4 The Burden of Culture (Jonathan Sterne).
5 Cultural Studies and the Questions of Pleasure and Value (David Shumway).
6 "I Give It a 94. It's Got a Good Beat and You Can Dance to It": Valuing Popular Music (David Sanjek).
7 Cultural Studies and the New Belletrism (Barry Faulk).
8 Beauty on My Mind: Reading Literature in an Age of Cultural Studies (Irene Kacandes).
9 Inventing Culture (Behind the Garage Door) (Steven Rubio).
10 The Cringe Factor (Laura Kipnis).
Index.
