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. Contains first-rate, original essays that analyze the role of aesthetics in American and British cultural studies, and reflect on its recuperation in the field. Contributors are leading scholars, internationally based. Includes substantial introductory material by the editor.

"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

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).