1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910786510503321

Autore

Malewitz Raymond

Titolo

The practice of misuse : rugged consumerism in contemporary American culture / / Raymond Malewitz

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Stanford, California : , : Stanford University Press, , 2014

©2014

ISBN

0-8047-9299-2

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource

Disciplina

810.9/3553

Soggetti

American literature - 20th century - History and criticism

Consumption (Economics) in literature

Material culture in literature

Consumption (Economics) - United States

Material culture - United States

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- 1. Misuse: From Aesthetics to Practice -- 2. Theaters of Rugged Consumerism -- 3. The Garden in the Machine: Biomimetic Hybrids and the Tragedy of Singular Use -- 4. The Rugged Consumer Bildungsroman -- 5. Ritual, Play, and Neoliberal Rugged Consumerism -- 6. The Commodity at the End of the World -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

This title examines the oppositional emergence and eventual ideological containment of 'rugged consumers' in late 20th century American literature, who creatively misuse, reuse, and repurpose the objects within their environments to suit their idiosyncratic needs and desires. The book shows how certain authors position their rugged consumers within the intertwined American myths of primal nature and rugged individualism, creating left- and right-libertarian maker communities that are skeptical of both traditional political institutions and (in its pre-neoliberal state) globalised corporate capitalism.