Just words : Lillian Hellman, Mary McCarthy, and the failure of public conversation in America / Alan Ackerman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ackerman, Alan L. (Alan Louis)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hellman, Lillian, 1905-1984--Trials, litigation, etc.

Hellman, Lillian.

McCarthy, Mary, 1912-1989--Trials, litigation, etc.

McCarthy, Mary.

Dick Cavett show (Television program).

Trials (Libel)--New York (State)--New York--History--20th century.

Trials (Libel).

Television talk shows--Political aspects--United States.

Television talk shows.

Libel and slander--United States--History--20th century.

Libel and slander.

Freedom of speech--United States--History--20th century.

Freedom of speech.

Politics and literature--United States--History--20th century.

Politics and literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (1 online resource (xi, 361 p.) ) ports.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, c2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In an appearance on The Dick Cavett Show in 1980, the critic Mary McCarthy glibly remarked that every word author Lillian Hellman wrote was a lie, "including 'and' and 'the.'" Hellman immediately filed a libel suit, charging that McCarthy's comment was not a legitimate conversation on public issues but an attack on her reputation. This intriguing book offers a many-faceted examination of Hellman's infamous suit and explores what it tells us about tensions between privacy and self-expression, freedom and restraint in public language, and what can and cannot be said in public in America.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

I. Libel and Life- Writing

II. Language Lessons

III. Words of Love

IV. Choice Words and Political Dramas

V. Criticism versus Libel

Conclusion

Notes

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 305-341) and index.

ISBN:

9786613150615

9781283150613

1283150611

9780300171808

0300171803

OCLC:

743097079