The Aesthetics of Cultural Studies

The subject of the aesthetic has returned to cultural and literary debates with a vengeance. The Aesthetics of Cultural Studies is a timely and authoritative collection of essays that analyze the role of aesthetics in American and British cultural studies, and reflect on its recuperation in the field. An international group of leading scholars write eloquently and convincingly about aesthetics in terms of subcultural analysis, the question of judgment in contemporary popular culture, the history of US and UK cultural studies, and the current state of the field.

A substantial editorial introduction opens the volume to help orient the reader to specific contributions and major debates. This is a must–have book for students of cultural studies, media, and communications.

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.

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