Consuming the Romantic Utopia

Consuming the Romantic Utopia
Author: Eva Illouz
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 390
Release: 2023-04-28
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0520917995

To what extent are our most romantic moments determined by the portrayal of love in film and on TV? Is a walk on a moonlit beach a moment of perfect romance or simply a simulation of the familiar ideal seen again and again on billboards and movie screens? In her unique study of American love in the twentieth century, Eva Illouz unravels the mass of images that define our ideas of love and romance, revealing that the experience of "true" love is deeply embedded in the experience of consumer capitalism. Illouz studies how individual conceptions of love overlap with the world of clichés and images she calls the "Romantic Utopia." This utopia lives in the collective imagination of the nation and is built on images that unite amorous and economic activities in the rituals of dating, lovemaking, and marriage. Since the early 1900s, advertisers have tied the purchase of beauty products, sports cars, diet drinks, and snack foods to success in love and happiness. Illouz reveals that, ultimately, every cliché of romance—from an intimate dinner to a dozen red roses—is constructed by advertising and media images that preach a democratic ethos of consumption: material goods and happiness are available to all. Engaging and witty, Illouz's study begins with readings of ads, songs, films, and other public representations of romance and concludes with individual interviews in order to analyze the ways in which mass messages are internalized. Combining extensive historical research, interviews, and postmodern social theory, Illouz brings an impressive scholarship to her fascinating portrait of love in America.

Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era, 1760–1850

Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era, 1760–1850
Author: Christopher John Murray
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 1304
Release: 2013-05-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 1135455783

In 850 analytical articles, this two-volume set explores the developments that influenced the profound changes in thought and sensibility during the second half of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century. The Encyclopedia provides readers with a clear, detailed, and accurate reference source on the literature, thought, music, and art of the period, demonstrating the rich interplay of international influences and cross-currents at work; and to explore the many issues raised by the very concepts of Romantic and Romanticism.

French Romantic Travel Writing

French Romantic Travel Writing
Author: Christopher W. Thompson
Publisher: Oxford University Press (UK)
Total Pages: 466
Release: 2012
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0199233543

A pioneering overview of the travel books produced by fourteen French Romantic writers - including Chateaubriand, Staël, Stendhal, Hugo, Nerval, Sand, Mérimée, Dumas, and Tristan - whose journeys ranged from Peru to Russia and from North America to North Africa and the Near East.

Rip Van Winkle’s Republic

Rip Van Winkle’s Republic
Author: Andrew Burstein
Publisher: LSU Press
Total Pages: 237
Release: 2022-09-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 0807178039

Two centuries ago, native New Yorker Washington Irving exploded onto the literary scene of Europe with the publication of his breakout collection of stories, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. Published in England and America in 1819–1820, and universally praised for its inventive characters and soul-searching qualities, including the immortal tales “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” the volume enjoyed remarkable transatlantic success, allowing Irving to become the first of his nation to support himself as a professional author. In this distinctive collection, historians and literary scholars come together to reassess Irving’s imaginative world and complex cultural legacy. Alternately a satirist and a nostalgia merchant, Irving was ever absorbed in reconstituting a lost past, which the volume dubs “Rip Van Winkle’s Republic.” The assembled scholars explore issues of Anglo-American culture, the power of imagery, race, and the treatment of time and history in Irving’s vast body of literature, as well as his status as a bibliophile, an antiquarian, and a prominent figure in an age of literary celebrity. Edited by acclaimed historians Andrew Burstein and Nancy Isenberg, Rip Van Winkle’s Republic marks a rediscovery of this marvelous author of social satire and fabled tales of the past.

99 Drams of Whiskey

99 Drams of Whiskey
Author: Kate Hopkins
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2009-05-26
Genre: Cooking
ISBN: 1429989971

Kate Hopkins knew there had to be more to whiskey than using it as a mixer. She had an unquenchable thirst to learn more about "the drink" and set out on an ambitious itinerary researching its history. Combining comprehensive research with informal narrative, Hopkins entertains and educates the readers on whiskey's place in the history of the world. She visited historians and pub owners, went to distilleries owned by corporations who sell thousands of gallons per day, and artisans who sell thousands of gallons per year, and interviewed the aficionados and the common drinkers, because one of the best aspects of whiskey is not just its taste, but the stories about the drink that are told around the bar. As an added bonus, she discusses the fine art of distilling, the proper ways to drink whiskey, and provides tasting notes on different brands, all in the hope of discovering the best shot of the liquor.

Inventing 'Easter Island'

Inventing 'Easter Island'
Author: Beverley Haun
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 722
Release: 2008-04-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1442693096

Easter Island, or Rapa Nui as it is known to its inhabitants, is located in the Pacific Ocean, 3600 kilometres west of South America. Annexed by Chile in 1888, the island has been a source of fascination for the world beyond the island since the first visit by Europeans in 1722 due to its intriguing statues and complex history. Inventing 'Easter Island' examines narrative strategies and visual conventions in the discursive construction of 'Easter Island' as distinct from the native conception of 'Rapa Nui.' It looks at the geographic imaginary that pervaded the eighteenth century, a period of overwhelming imperial expansion. Beverley Haun begins with a discussion of forces that shaped the European version of island culture and goes on to consider the representation of that culture in the form of explorer texts and illustrations, as well as more recent texts and images in comic books and kitsch from off the island. Throughout, 'Easter Island' is used as a case study of the impact of imperialism on the view of a culture from outside. The study hinges on three key points - an inquiry into the formation of 'Easter Island' as a subject; an examination of how the constructed space and culture have been shaped, reshaped, and represented in discursive spaces; and a discussion of cultural memory and how the constraints of foreign texts and images have shaped thought and action about 'Easter Island.' Richly illustrated and unique in its findings, Inventing 'Easter Island' will appeal to cultural theorists, anthropologists, educators, and anyone interested in the history of the South Pacific.

The Romance Chronicles Bundle (Books 4 and 5)

The Romance Chronicles Bundle (Books 4 and 5)
Author: Sophie Love
Publisher: Sophie Love
Total Pages: 556
Release: 2019-09-19
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1094311375

A bundle of books #4 (LOVE LIKE THEIRS) and #5 (LOVE LIKE YOURS) in Sophie Loves’s The Romance Chronicles series. This bundle offers books #4 and #5 in one convenient file, with over 150,000 words of reading. In LOVE LIKE THEIRS, Keira has sworn off of love. With her heart still hurting from her breakups with Cristiano and Shane, she will not allow her magazine to use her for another love experiment. Which is fine by them, because they want to send her off on a different kind of trip: to prove that someone suffering from a breakup can avoid a knee-jerk rebound affair and manage NOT to fall in love. To emphasize the point, they will NOT assign her a new tour guide. Instead, Keira will take a cruise to the Scandinavian countries and have to navigate herself. Keira is thrilled to accept the assignment. There is nothing she wants more than to be alone, and go to the Northern climes, where she can cool her head, and where surely she will not find love. But Keira does not anticipate the beauty of Copenhagen and of Stockholm (“the Paris of the North”) or the stunning hospitality of the Scandinavians. With Christmas on the way, resisting a new love may be harder than she thinks…. In LOVE LIKE YOURS, Keira finds herself spending a magical Christmas with her new boyfriend and his family in Sweden. How will their relationship end? Keira returns to New York to discover, to her shock, that she has started a new trend in dating that is sweeping across the country—“Scandinavian romance”—and to find herself becoming a celebrity. Even more confusing, her sister gets engaged, and gives Keira constant advice. Overwhelmed, Keira takes solace when Christiano calls, and surprises herself when she agrees to take a week off and meet him on neutral ground: in Greece. Her magazine is thrilled, and they want this to be her new assignment: can love work the second time around, in a different time and place, if you give it one more chance? A whirlwind romantic comedy that is as profound as it is funny, THE ROMANCE CHRONICLES will make you laugh, cry, and will keep you turning pages late into the night—and will make you fall in love with romance all over again.