Symptoms of Culture

By Marjorie Garber

Book Overview

The symptoms of culture are the anxieties that underlie modern life: the instability of gender roles, the mysteries of female sexuality, the enigma of authority, the desire for greatness in ourselves and our heroes. From concern over fake orgasms to our worries about Great Books reading lists, from wanting God on our side at sports contests to wanting Shakespeare on our side whenever we want to sound important, we are a walking case of symptoms. Whatever the modern illness may be, the doctor locates the symptoms in a box of Jello or in Charlotte's marvelous web, on the football field or in the bedroom, in our great Mr. Shakespeare, in our classroom or the courtroom, or in a sneeze.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0415918596
• ISBN13: 9780415918596
• Release Date: March 2000
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 286 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

May or may not be your cup of tea

I suspect this book might be hit and miss. I found it to be beyond brilliant: witty, erudite, well-researched, and playful, Garber writes the perfect antidote to scholarly conservatism, traditionalism, and stuffiness. The first essay, "Greatness," is a free-associating tour de force that not only perfectly puts her theoretical framework to work (go Freud!), but also reminds us that even those who argue against "ideology" and "politics" work through and with them, whether or not (and especially if they don't) acknowledge it. People who are still comfortably attached to orthodox scholarly beliefs will find this book to be too eccentric and perhaps even evil; the Lynne Cheneys and Camille Paglias of the world must burst into flames at the mere mention of Garber's name. Even those who agree with Garber's politics might find her method of analysis too labyrinthine and airy. I found the method refreshing. (And at least she warns us of it in the beginning.) Overall, the book reminds us that the methods of close reading and the psychoanalytic interpretation of dreams can (and must) be applied to the world around us, reminds us of the importance of reading against the grain, reading between the lines, always questioning and critiquing that which society presents to us as given, inherent, assumed, decontextualized, "real" and "great."