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Remote : reflections on life in the shadow of celebrity / David Shields ; foreword by Phillip Lopate.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Shields, David, 1956-
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Authors, American--20th century--Biography.
- Authors, American.
- Shields, David, 1956-.
- Shields, David.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (189 p.)
- Edition:
- 1st ed.
- Place of Publication:
- Madison : University of Wisconsin Press, [2004], c1996.
- Language Note:
- English
- Summary:
- 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?
- Contents:
- 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
- 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
- The Confessions
- About the Author
- Why We Live at the Movies
- Where We Live and What We Live For
- Life Is Elsewhere: A Rube's Lament
- Stuttering
- The Subject at the Vanishing Point
- The Nimbus of His Fame etc.: Dreams about Kurt Cobain
- The One We Truly Want
- The Cultural Contradictions of Early Capitalism: Postcards from Camp
- Love Is a Light
- The One We Truly Want: A Brief Survey of Ideal Desire
- Last Lines: It Isn't the Suspense That Is Killing Us
- Epilogue: How to Make a Paper Hat
- Notes.
- Notes:
- Description based upon print version of record.
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 161-170).
- ISBN:
- 9786612788260
- 9781282788268
- 1282788264
- 9780299193638
- 0299193632
- OCLC:
- 669518778
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