Barnard, Rita

The Great Depression & the Culture of Abundance: Kenneth Fearing, Nathanael West, and Mass Culture in the 1930s

ISBN: 0521450349
New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press, 1995. First Edition. Hardcover. “This study probes the relationship between two contradictory, or apparently contradictory, pairs of terms: ‘Depression’ and ‘abundance,’ and ‘literature’ and ‘mass culture.’ It suggests, first, that one can detect in the culture of the American thirties—despite the painful national experience of scarcity and poverty—the now-familiar outline of an image-mediated, consumer society. It argues, second, that the hierarchical opposition between ‘high art’ and ‘mass culture’ was powerfully contested and challenged in the cultural production of the Depression decade.” Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Pennsylvania Rita Barnard published her first academic study in 1995 with a focus on the transformational decade that shaped the future of America both culturally and economically: the 1930s. Barnard invokes the American writers Kenneth Fearing (1902-1961) and Nathanael West (1903-1940) who both satirized the consumerist industries and the effects on people and media (West’s masterpiece The Day of the Locust is a favorite of our founder and resident devotee to the macabre genius). The idealism portrayed is harshly contrasted by the reality of the average person, making for a glaringly poignant duality of existence as the world around them shifted with the politics and culture of the time. Barnard wades through the writing, reporting, and history of the era and how the real events influenced the artistic and satirical representations found in the works of these men and many others of the time. From the collection of Laurence Goldstein (1943-2023), poet, editor, and professor in the University of Michigan Department of English Language and Literature. Hardcover in unclipped dust jacket: first edition, “First published 1995” as stated on copyright page. Book is in very fine condition with no discernible flaws. Dust jacket is in near fine condition with minor bumping to the fine edges and corners of front, back covers & spine; minor-to-moderate rubbing, scratching to front, back covers. Very Fine / Near Fine. [Item #6869]

Price: $140.00