1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910974565103321

Autore

Shields David <1956->

Titolo

Remote : reflections on life in the shadow of celebrity / / David Shields ; foreword by Phillip Lopate

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Madison, : University of Wisconsin Press, [2004], c1996

ISBN

9786612788260

9781282788268

1282788264

9780299193638

0299193632

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (189 p.)

Altri autori (Persone)

LopatePhillip

Disciplina

813/.54

B

Soggetti

Authors, American - 20th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 161-170).

Nota di contenuto

Intro -- Acknowledgments -- Foreword -- Prologue: Life Story -- The Nimbus of Her Fame Makes a Nullity of Us All -- Problems and Solutions to Problems -- Information Sickness -- Life Story -- Life Story -- Radio -- Blood and Guts in High School -- Always -- Almost Famous -- The Nimbus of His Fame Makes a Nullity of Us All -- The Cultural Contradictions of Late Capitalism -- Robert Capa, Misunderstood -- Love Is Not a Consolation -- Desire -- The Nimbus of Their Fame Makes a Nullity of Us All -- The Tradition Is Here, the Memories Are Waiting: Several More Sporting Events in Search of a Sponsor -- Always -- The Confessions -- The Cultural Contradictions of Late Capitalism -- Almost Famous -- The Nimbus of His Fame Makes a Nullity of Us All -- Robert Capa, Misunderstood -- The Nimbus of His Fame Makes a Nullity of Us All -- About the Author -- Why We Live at the Movies -- Desire -- Where We Live and What We Live For -- Where We Live and What We Live For -- Where We Live and What We Live For -- Life Is Elsewhere: A Rube's Lament -- Almost Famous -- Stuttering -- Robert Capa, Misunderstood -- The Nimbus of Her Fame Makes a Nullity of Us All -- Where We Live and What We Live



For -- Problems and Solutions to Problems -- Problems and Solutions to Problems -- The Subject at the Vanishing Point -- The Confessions -- Almost Famous -- Why We Live at the Movies -- Why We Live at the Movies -- The Nimbus of His Fame etc.: Dreams about Kurt Cobain -- The One We Truly Want -- The Cultural Contradictions of Late Capitalism -- The Cultural Contradictions of Early Capitalism: Postcards from Camp -- Love Is Not a Consolation -- Love Is a Light -- Desire -- Why We Live at the Movies -- The Confessions -- The One We Truly Want: A Brief Survey of Ideal Desire -- Radio -- Last Lines: It Isn't the Suspense That Is Killing Us -- Epilogue: How to Make a Paper Hat -- Notes.

Sommario/riassunto

In this truly one-of-a-kind book, the author/narrator-a representative, in extremis, of contemporary American obsession with beauty, celebrity, transmitted image-finds himself suspended, fascinated, in the remoteness of our wall-to-wall mediascape. It is a remoteness that both perplexes and enthralls him. Through dazzling sleight of hand in which the public becomes private and the private becomes public, the entire book-clicking from confession to family-album photograph to family chronicle to sexual fantasy to pseudo-scholarly footnote to reportage to personal essay to stand-up comedy to cultural criticism to literary criticism to film criticism to prose-poem to litany to outtake -becomes both an anatomy of American culture and a searing self-portrait. David Shields reads his own life-reads our life-as if it were an allegory about remoteness and finds persuasive, hilarious, heartbreaking evidence wherever he goes.   Winner of the PEN / Revson Award?