The politics of enchantment : romanticism, media, and cultural studies / J. David Black.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Black, J. David (John David), 1964-

Series:

Cultural studies series (Waterloo, Ont.)

Cultural studies series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Romanticism.

Mass media--Philosophy.

Mass media.

Culture--Philosophy.

Culture.

Mass media criticism.

Culture--Study and teaching.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (211 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Waterloo, Ont. : Wilfrid Laurier University Press, c2002.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

What do "raves" have to do with eighteenth-century Romanticism, or the latest communication technologies with historical ideas about language, media, and culture? Today's culture dazzles us with technological marvels and media spectacles. While we find them entertaining, just as often they are troubling--they seem to contradict common sense, eliciting such questions as What is real? or What is reality? and What is language? or What does language do? These questions, once confined to scholars, have become everyone's concern. Some of the best answers might be found in an unexpected source: Romanticism. Too often we bring the values of the Enlightenment, particularly that of reason, to critique phenomena not inherently rational, such as pop culture or the Internet. This means that much criticism of current culture already has an intellectual foundation antagonistic to it--inviting postmodern arguments that suggest history has ended and reality is an illusion. In contrast, Romanticism, a cultural movement founded in Germany and England during the late eighteenth century, offers us an archive of concepts surprisingly sensitive to these problems. The Romantics were poets, dreamers, and politicians who advanced ideas that anticipated much contemporary thinking. David Black has organized these ideas systematically, and has then applied them to key issues in communications, such as representation, audience, and the information society, as well as to significant debates in cultural studies. As a result, The Politics of Enchantment offers a new theory of media and culture that is grounded in intellectual history, yet as feverishly current as the latest digital device.

Contents:

Introduction : the politics of enchantment

The education of desire : romanticizing cultural studies

The secret police at the disco : interrogating cultural studies

The presence of the past : some problems in media research

The enemies of love : misusing romanticism

Information wants to be free : a romantic approach to new media

The market in the fallen world : cultural studies and political economy

Conclusion : wrestling with the angels.

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786610925599

9781280925597

1280925590

9780889208803

0889208808

OCLC:

753479462