Marginalisation and Utopia in Paul Auster, Jim Jarmusch and Tom Waits

The Other America

Add to my list

by Adriano Tedde

Type

Essays

Subject

Sociology

Keywords

philosophy, Jim Jarmusch, Paul Auster

Publishing date

2023

Publisher

Routledge

Collection

Routledge Research in American Literature and Culture

1st publishing

2022

Language

English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Paperback • 222 pages
6 x 9 ½ inches (15.5 x 24 cm)

ISBN

978-1-032-11715-7

User Ratings

(0 vote)

X

Average rating:

0	rating	= We can do without
0	rating	= Good book
0	rating	= Excellent book
0	rating	= Unique / a reference

Your rating: -

Book Presentation:
This book explores how three contemporary American artists through the mediums of film, literature and popular music have contributed to the tradition of American progressivism, and provides an invaluable companion to the understanding of complex issues such as inequality and social and economic decline that are apparent in America today.

Connecting the works of these artists through a fictional country – the ‘Other America’ – the book shows how they have refuted middle-class values and goals of success, money and social affirmation to unveil the less celebrated, dark side of contemporary America, which, despite the troubles currently faced, never loses hope for a better future. This utopic vision in the face of adversity is explored through the plots, characters and mis-en-scène of Auster and Jarmusch’s work and Waits’s lyrics and sound. This vision challenges the dominant narratives of America as the land of opportunity and values democracy, civic engagement, communitarianism and egalitarianism.

Offering an important new perspective to literature on contemporary American culture, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of American studies, film studies, popular music, postmodern literature, cultural studies and sociology.　

About the Author:
Adriano A. Tedde holds a PhD in American Studies from Griffith University, Australia (2019). His research interests are in US popular culture, US twentieth-century intellectual history and the history of neoliberalism. His articles have appeared in Literature Compass, Comparative American Studies and Riffs Journal.

See the publisher website: Routledge