Aesthetics of Cultural Studies

Michael Bérubé is the Paterno Family Professor in Literature at Pennsylvania State University. He is the author of Marginal Forces/Cultural Centers: Tolson, Pynchon, and the Politics of the Canon (1992); Public Access: Literary Theory and American Cultural Politics (1994); Life As We Know It: A Father, A Family, and an Exceptional Child (1996); and The Employment of English: Theory, Jobs, and the Future of Literary Studies (1998).

"This book is a refreshing reminder that cultural studies of pleasure can (and should) be pleasurable. Interesting questions, engaging voices, rueful disagreements, startling juxtapositions of topic and concept. A book to make you laugh while thinking and think while laughing. What more could anyone want?"-Simon Frith, University of Stirling "These essays are both timely and hard-hitting. The Aesthetics of Cultural Studies shows how crucial the provocation of cultural studies has been and remains for aesthetic thought. No grown-up or wide-awake account of the place and possibilities of the aesthetic can afford to ignore the arguments convened here."--Steven Connor, Birkbeck College

• Notes on Contributors. Introduction: Engaging the Aesthetic (Michael Berube).1 The Role of Aesthetics in Cultural Studies (Rita Felski).2 On Literature in Cultural Studies (John Frow).3 Excessive Practices: Aesthetics, Erotica, and Cultural Studies (Jane Juffer).4 The Burden of Culture (Jonathan Sterne).5 Cultural Studies and the Questions of Pleasure and Value (David Shumway).6 "I Give It a 94. It's Got a Good Beat and You Can Dance to It": Valuing Popular Music (David Sanjek).7 Cultural Studies and the New Belletrism (Barry Faulk).8 Beauty on My Mind: Reading Literature in an Age of Cultural Studies (Irene Kacandes).9 Inventing Culture (Behind the Garage Door) (Steven Rubio).10 The Cringe Factor (Laura Kipnis).Index.