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The Real Thing: Imitation and Authenticity in American Culture, 1880-1940 (Cultural Studies of the United States)
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Product Description
This is a perceptive study of the relationship between technology and culture. Orvell discusses Whitman and his world, then considers material culture, photography, and literature. Among the cultural figures discussed are writers Henry James, John Dos Passos, and James Agee; photographers Alfred Stieglitz and Margaret Bourke-White; and architect-designers Gustav Stickley and Frank Lloyd Wright. A witty essay on the significance of junk in the 1930s concludes the book.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #489915 in Books
- Published on: 1989-04-01
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Paperback
- 408 pages
Editorial Reviews
Review
Intriguing.
New York Times
Stippled with descriptive insights that will reward any reader interested in the . . . debate between copying and creating the 'real thing.
Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography
A rich and complex study. It casts new and revealing light on the cultural transformations of the early 20th century.
New Republic
A smoothly written, imaginatively researched study.
Kirkus Reviews
Customer Reviews
Superb study of American culture emerging into modernity
Orvell's THE REAL THING is the sort of book I wish I'd written. It is entertaining, wide-ranging across many cultural genres, and offers a coherent and stimulating account of American culture in the late 29th and early 20th centuries. It is especially acute on such complex and difficult-to-classify cultural phenomena as the rise of department stores and mass-produced consumer goods, the "aestheticizing" photographs of the machine-age city (and even of machine parts themselves) by such artists as Alfred Stieglitz and Paul Strand. An outstanding study I return to again and again.
Well Researched, Little Connection
This is not a casual reading book. In order to enjoy this book you have to be interested in Imitation and Authenticity before you crack the cover, because Mile Orvell does not attempt to make the topic friendly. He is well researched, but his writing style is dry, and it feels as if Orvell is trying to show how intelligent he is, rather than adding more to this promising topic.
