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From Lowbrow to Nobrow
Swirski begins with a series of groundbreaking questions about the nature of popular fiction, vindicating it as an artform that expresses and reflects the aesthetic and social values of its readers. He follows his insightful introduction to the socio-aesthetics of genre literature with a synthesis of the century long debate on the merits of popular fiction and a study of genre informed by analytic aesthetics and game theory. Swirski then turns to three "nobrow" novels that have been largely ignored by critics. Examining the aesthetics of "artertainment" in Karel Capek's War with the Newts, Raymond Chandler's Playback, and Stanislaw Lem's Chain of Chance, crossover tours de force, From Lowbrow to Nobrow throws new light on the hazards and rewards of nobrow traffic between popular forms and highbrow aesthetics.
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From Lowbrow to Nobrow
Swirski begins with a series of groundbreaking questions about the nature of popular fiction, vindicating it as an artform that expresses and reflects the aesthetic and social values of its readers. He follows his insightful introduction to the socio-aesthetics of genre literature with a synthesis of the century long debate on the merits of popular fiction and a study of genre informed by analytic aesthetics and game theory. Swirski then turns to three "nobrow" novels that have been largely ignored by critics. Examining the aesthetics of "artertainment" in Karel Capek's War with the Newts, Raymond Chandler's Playback, and Stanislaw Lem's Chain of Chance, crossover tours de force, From Lowbrow to Nobrow throws new light on the hazards and rewards of nobrow traffic between popular forms and highbrow aesthetics.
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From Lowbrow to Nobrow

From Lowbrow to Nobrow

by Peter Swirski
From Lowbrow to Nobrow

From Lowbrow to Nobrow

by Peter Swirski

Overview

Swirski begins with a series of groundbreaking questions about the nature of popular fiction, vindicating it as an artform that expresses and reflects the aesthetic and social values of its readers. He follows his insightful introduction to the socio-aesthetics of genre literature with a synthesis of the century long debate on the merits of popular fiction and a study of genre informed by analytic aesthetics and game theory. Swirski then turns to three "nobrow" novels that have been largely ignored by critics. Examining the aesthetics of "artertainment" in Karel Capek's War with the Newts, Raymond Chandler's Playback, and Stanislaw Lem's Chain of Chance, crossover tours de force, From Lowbrow to Nobrow throws new light on the hazards and rewards of nobrow traffic between popular forms and highbrow aesthetics.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780773530195
Publisher: McGill-Queens University Press
Publication date: 10/24/2005
Edition description: First Edition
Pages: 236
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Peter Swirski is research director at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies (HCAS) and professor of American literature and culture at UMSL. He is the author of ten books, including the National Book Award nominated Ars Americana, Ars Politica (2010
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Related Subjects

Literature
Literary Criticism
Genres & Literary Forms
Miscellaneous Genres & Literary Forms - Literary Criticism
General & Miscellaneous Fiction - Literary Criticism
Fiction->20th century->History and criticism
Literature
Literary Criticism
Genres & Literary Forms
Miscellaneous Genres & Literary Forms - Literary Criticism
General & Miscellaneous Fiction - Literary Criticism
Fiction->20th century->History and criticism

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