Stephen Watt - Böcker

"Something Dreadful and Grand": American Literature and the Irish-Jewish Unconscious takes its title from an essay that introduces John Patrick Shanley's Outside Mullingar, a text that marks over 150 years of the so-called "Irish play" on the New York stage. This book traces the often uncanny relationships between Irish- and Jewish-America, arguing for the centrality of these two diasporic groups to the development of American popular music, fiction, and especially drama. But more than this, the book reads such cultural forms as tenement fiction, Tin Pan Alley music, and melodrama as part of a larger "circum-North Atlantic" world in which texts and performers from Ireland, Europe, and America were and still are involved in a continuous cultural exchange within which stereotypes and performances of Jewishness and Irishness took center stage. For this reason, such Irish writers as James Joyce, Bernard Shaw, and Sean O'Casey played pivotal roles in the development of modern American culture, particularly as they influenced and interacted with writers like Elmer Rice, Clifford Odets, Henry Roth, and many others. Such Irish-American writers as Eugene O'Neill were similarly influenced by their interactions with Jewish-American writers like Michael Gold and Edward Dahlberg.While focusing on the modern period, this project traces a genealogy of modern drama and fiction to the nineteenth century stage in which Irish and Jewish melodrama-and the appearances of international stars in such roles as Shylock and Leah, the Forsaken-shaped the often contradictory and excessive dimensions of ethnicity that are both allosemitic and allohibernian. Borrowing a term from psychoanalytic theory, I also explore the larger dimensions of an Irish-Jewish unconscious underlying cultural production in America. The closing chapter considers more recent representations of Irish-Jewish interactions by John Banville, Brendan Behan, Norman Mailer, and Harold Pinter; and examples from a newer immigrant literature bring this discussion into the present.

Each John Wick film has earned more money and recognition than its predecessor, defying the conventional wisdom about the box office's action movie landscape, normally dominated by superhero movies and science fiction epics.As The Worlds of John Wick explores, the worldbuilding of John Wick offers thrills that you simply can't find anywhere else. The franchise's plot combines familiar elements of the revenge thriller and crime film with seamlessly coordinated action. One of its most distinctive appeals, however, is the detailed and multifaceted fictional world—or rather, worlds—it constructs. The contributors to this volume consider everything from fight sequences, action aesthetics, and stunts to grief, cinematic space and time, and gender performance to map these worlds and explore how their range and depth make John Wick a hit. A deep dive into this popular neo-noir franchise, The Worlds of John Wick celebrates and complicates the cult phenomenon that is John Wick.

Each John Wick film has earned more money and recognition than its predecessor, defying the conventional wisdom about the box office's action movie landscape, normally dominated by superhero movies and science fiction epics.As The Worlds of John Wick explores, the worldbuilding of John Wick offers thrills that you simply can't find anywhere else. The franchise's plot combines familiar elements of the revenge thriller and crime film with seamlessly coordinated action. One of its most distinctive appeals, however, is the detailed and multifaceted fictional world—or rather, worlds—it constructs. The contributors to this volume consider everything from fight sequences, action aesthetics, and stunts to grief, cinematic space and time, and gender performance to map these worlds and explore how their range and depth make John Wick a hit. A deep dive into this popular neo-noir franchise, The Worlds of John Wick celebrates and complicates the cult phenomenon that is John Wick.

This book traces a significant shift in 20th century Irish theatre from the largely national plays produced in Dublin to a more expansive international art form. Confirmed by the recent success outside of Ireland of the "third wave" of Irish playwrights writing in the 1990s, the new Irish drama has encouraged critics to reconsider both the early national theatre and the dramatic tradition it fostered.On the occasion of the centenary of the first professional production of the Irish Literary Theatre, the contributors to this volume investigate contemporary Irish drama's aesthetic features and socio-political commitments and re-read the plays produced earlier in the century. Although these essayists cover a wide range of topics, from the productions and objectives of the Abbey Theatre'sfirst rivals to mid-century theatre festivals, to plays about the "Troubles" in the North, they all reassess the oppositions so commonplace in critical discussions of Irish drama: nationalism vs. internationalism, high vs. low culture, urban experience vs. rural or peasant life. A Century of Irish Drama includes essays on such figures as W. B. Yeats, Lady Gregory, J. M. Synge, Sean O'Casey, Brendan Behan, Samuel Beckett, Marina Carr, Brian Friel, Frank McGuinness, Christina Read, Martin McDonagh, and many more.Stephen Watt is Professor of English and Cultural Studies at Indiana University-Bloomington, and author of Postmodern/Drama: Reading the Contemporary Stage, Joyce, O'Casey, and the Irish Popular Theatre, and essays on Irish and Irish-American culture. He has also written extensively on higher education, most recently Academic Keywords: A Devil's Dictionary for Higher Education (with Cary Nelson).Eileen M. Morgan is a lecturer in English and Irish Studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is currently working on Sean O'Faolain's biographies of De Valera and on Edna O'Brien's 1990s trilogy, and is preparing a book-length study on the influence of radio in Ireland.Shakir Mustafa is a Visiting Instructor in the English department at Indiana University. His work has appeared in such journals as New Hibernia Review and The Canadian Journal of Irish Studies, and he is now translating Arabic short stories into English.Drama and Performance Studies—Timothy Wiles, general editor

"This is a compelling and important book . . . [that] makes a significant contribution not only to studies of Bond and Ian Fleming but also to studies of popular culture in general." —Michael BérubéThe Cold War agent of pulp fiction and the hero of more than a dozen movies, James Bond, also known as 007, is one of pop culture's most recognizable icons. Doubtless better known from film than from Ian Fleming's novels, the character has become a lightning rod for criticism from all camps. And yet somehow his popularity remains intact.But who is James Bond? Ian Fleming and James Bond: The Cultural Politics of 007 is an entertaining and revealing examination of the many facets of Bond. Before Bond became a cinematic icon, he was the protagonist of a series of thrillers that appeared during the time of Britain's decline as a major power and the heating up of the Cold War. Fleming's character gave expression to biases and anxieties that continue to shape our political worldview in ways both obvious and covert.Fifteen spirited and engaging essays—all new to this volume—cover topics including Bond's Britishness, James Bond and JFK, homosexual panic and lesbian Bond-age, the James Bond lifestyle, and Bond's brands.The contributors are Alexis Albion, Dennis W. Allen, James Chapman, Edward P. Comentale, Vivian Halloran, Jaime Hovey, Aaron Jaffe, Christoph Lindner, Andrew Lycett, Patrick O'Donnell, Craig N. Owens, Brian Patton, Judith Roof, Stephen Watt, and Skip Willman.

Know what academic freedom is? Or what it's come to mean? What's affirmative about affirmative action these days? Think you're up on the problem of sexual harassment on campus? Or know how much the university depends on part-time faculty? Academic Keywords is a witty, informed, and sometimes merciless assessment of today's campus, an increasingly corporatized institution that may have bitten off more than its administration is ready to chew. Cary Nelson and Steve Watt use the format of a dictionary to present stories and reflections on some of the most pressing issues affecting higher education in America. From the haphazard treatment of graduate students to the use and abuse of faculty (as well as abuses commited by faculty), Nelson and Watt present a compelling and, at times, enraging report on the state of the campus.

Know what academic freedom is? Or what it's come to mean? What's affirmative about affirmative action these days? Think you're up on the problem of sexual harassment on campus? Or know how much the university depends on part-time faculty? Academic Keywords is a witty, informed, and sometimes merciless assessment of today's campus, an increasingly corporatized institution that may have bitten off more than its administration is ready to chew. Cary Nelson and Steve Watt use the format of a dictionary to present stories and reflections on some of the most pressing issues affecting higher education in America. From the haphazard treatment of graduate students to the use and abuse of faculty (as well as abuses commited by faculty), Nelson and Watt present a compelling and, at times, enraging report on the state of the campus.

In a series of stinging analyses, this book examines the current sorry state of higher education. The second half of the volume offers "alternative futures" for the academy, visions that involve academic organizations, public outreach through the internet, faculty unionization, and campus organizing. Office Hours is a roll-up-your-sleeves look at the avoidable disaster facing the modern university.

In a series of stinging analyses, this book examines the current sorry state of higher education. The second half of the volume offers "alternative futures" for the academy, visions that involve academic organizations, public outreach through the internet, faculty unionization, and campus organizing. Office Hours is a roll-up-your-sleeves look at the avoidable disaster facing the modern university.

Samuel Beckett is one of the most important figures in the history of Irish literature, and he continues to influence successive generations of writers. In Beckett and Contemporary Irish Writing, Stephen Watt searches for the 'Beckettian' impulse in Irish literature by tracing the Nobel Prize winner's legacy through a rich selection of contemporary novelists, poets and dramatists. Watt examines leading figures such as Paul Muldoon, Brian Friel, Marina Carr and Bernard MacLaverty, and shows how Beckett's presence, whether openly acknowledged or unstated, is always thoroughly pervasive. Moving on to an exploration of Beckett's role in the twenty-first century, the study discusses ways in which this legacy can be reshaped to deal with current concerns that extend beyond literature.

The richness of Victorian theatre has often been neglected because of the era’s most celebrated productions of Shakespeare’s plays. Judith L. Fisher and Stephen Watt present a vigorous collection of eighteen essays covering the vast expanse of this “other” theatre, including social dramas, Christmas pantomimes, and adaptations of Gothic novels such as Guy Mannering and Metamora; or, The Last of the Wampanoags.Reflecting both the longings and values of the public and the theatrical conventions of the times, Victorian productions could capture audiences with the historical verisimilitude of William Charles Macready’s production of Richelieu or incite a storm of public outrage with the too explicitly fallen woman in Olga Nethersole’s interpretation of Sapho. Playwrights worked at adapting such popular classic works as The Count of Monte Cristo or devising new melodramas such as Rent Day and Luke the Labourer. Pandering to the tastes of an expanding middle-class audience, theatre bills reflected popular fascination with the daily newspapers’ stories of social maladies. Transposed to the stage, “bad” men and women could be punished for wrongdoings in a way that was unlikely or impossible in real life. Emphasizing the variety of stagecraft in the Victorian age, the contributors to When They Weren’t Doing Shakespeare present a composite portrait of the vibrant theatrical worlds that existed in both nineteenth-century New York and London.

Samuel Beckett is one of the most important figures in the history of Irish literature, and he continues to influence successive generations of writers. In Beckett and Contemporary Irish Writing, Stephen Watt searches for the 'Beckettian' impulse in Irish literature by tracing the Nobel Prize winner's legacy through a rich selection of contemporary novelists, poets and dramatists. Watt examines leading figures such as Paul Muldoon, Brian Friel, Marina Carr and Bernard MacLaverty, and shows how Beckett's presence, whether openly acknowledged or unstated, is always thoroughly pervasive. Moving on to an exploration of Beckett's role in the twenty-first century, the study discusses ways in which this legacy can be reshaped to deal with current concerns that extend beyond literature.

In Shakespeare Our Contemporary (1964), Polish critic Jan Kott defines one purpose of scholarship in the humanities that summarises the chief aim of this project: ‘The writing of history and, above all, literary criticism can, and must, always be understood as an attempt to find in the past aspects of human experience that can shed light on the meaning of our own times’. That is precisely what From the ‘Troubles’ to Trumpism: Ireland and America, 1960–2023 attempts to do. Aided by the insights of Irish and Northern Irish playwrights, poets and novelists, this book uses America’s historical relationship with Ireland and Northern Ireland as a means of understanding the rise of Trumpism and assessing its potential to incite a new American ‘Troubles’. Three related aims are to demonstrate the interdependence of Ireland and the United States since the Famine in Ireland and the American Civil War in the nineteenth century; to delineate the political and economic obstacles in the latter decades of the last century that prevented this relationship from evolving into a more consequential partnership; and to identify the underappreciated leaders who played crucial roles in both the brokering of the Good Friday Agreement and the inception of a revised foreign policy.

This book traces the effects of materiality - including money and its opposite, poverty - on the psychical lives of George Bernard Shaw and his characters.

This book traces the effects of materiality - including money and its opposite, poverty - on the psychical lives of George Bernard Shaw and his characters.