American Lonesome: The Work Of Bruce Springsteen - 9780807169469

American Lonesome: The Work of Bruce Springsteen begins with a visit to the Jersey Shore and ends with a meditation on the international legacy of SpringsteenÆs writing, music, and performances. Gavin Cologne-BrookesÆs innovative study of this popular musician and his position in American culture blends scholarship with personal reflection, providing both an academic examination of SpringsteenÆs work and a moving account of how it offers a way out of emotional solitude and the potential lonesomeness of modern life. Cologne-Brookes proposes that the American philosophical tradition of pragmatism, which assesses the value of ideas and arguments based on their practical applications, provides a lens for understanding the diversity of perspectives and emotions encountered in SpringsteenÆs songs and performances. Drawing on pragmatist philosophy from William James to Richard Rorty, Cologne-Brookes examines SpringsteenÆs formative environment and outsider psychology, arguing that the artistÆs confessed tendency toward a self-reliant isolation creates a tension in his work between lonesomeness and community. He considers SpringsteenÆs portrayals of solitude in relation to classic and contemporary American writers, from Frederick Douglass, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Emily Dickinson to Richard Wright, Flannery OÆConnor, and Joyce Carol Oates. As part of this critique, he discusses the difference between escapist and pragmatic romanticism, the notion of multiple selves as played out both in SpringsteenÆs work and in our perception of him, and the impact of performances both recorded and live. By drawing on his own experiences seeing Springsteen performùincluding on tours showcasing the album The River in 1981 and 2016ùCologne-Brookes creates a book about the intimate relationship between art and everyday life. Blending research, cultural knowledge, and creative thinking, American Lonesome dissolves any imagined barriers between the study of a songwriter, literary criticism, and personal testimony.

• | Author: Gavin Cologne-Brookes
• | Publisher: Lsu Press
• | Publication Date: Nov 14, 2018
• | Number of Pages: 256 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Hardcover/Music
• | ISBN-10: 0807169463
• | ISBN-13: 9780807169469