Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood Comedy of Remarriage

by Stanley Cavell

Overview

During the ’30s and ’40s, Hollywood produced a genre of madcap comedies that emphasized reuniting the central couple after divorce or separation. Their female protagonists were strong, independent, and sophisticated. Here, Stanley Cavell names this new genre of American film—“the comedy of remarriage”—and examines seven classic movies for their cinematic techniques and for such varied themes as feminism, liberty, and interdependence.

Included are Adam’s Rib, The Awful Truth, Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, It Happened One Night, The Lady Eve, and The Philadelphia Story.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674739062
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	01/15/1984
Series:	Harvard Film Studies , #2
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	296
Sales rank:	767,723
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Stanley Cavell (1926–2018) was Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value, Emeritus, at Harvard University. His numerous books include The Claim of Reason, Cities of Words, and Philosophy the Day after Tomorrow.

Table of Contents

• Introduction: Words for a Conversation
• 1. Cons and Pros

  The Lady Eve

• 2. Knowledge as Transgression

  It Happened One Night

• 3. Leopards in Connecticut

  Bringing Up Baby

• 4. The Importance of Importance

  The Philadelphia Story

• 5. Counterfeiting Happiness

  His Girl Friday

• 6. The Courting of Marriage

  Adam’s Rib

• 7. The Same and Different

  The Awful Truth

• Appendix: Film in the University
• Acknowledgments
• Index

Editorial Reviews

Stanley Cavell’s book succeeds brilliantly… The individual ‘readings’ of the films and the general conceptual plan in which they are embedded are both so rich and rewarding that…‘brilliant’…seems an understatement.

Journal of Aesthetic Education - Gerald Mast

The great achievement of…Pursuits of Happiness is that it finally provides a solid framework for the serious discussion of the great dialogue comedies of the thirties and forties, perhaps the most revived and loved movies of Hollywood’s golden period.

Al LaValleyn Film

This is a voice like no other in philosophy, today or ever.

October - Arthur C. Danto

No book about the art of Hollywood I have ever read can make its readers stop and think more effectively than this one.

Times Literary Supplement - S. S. Prawer

This just must be, in its close readings and its stunning associations, one of the most compelling accounts of its kind. The fact is, it just is its kind.

London Review of Books - Geoffrey Hawthorn

The great achievement of…Pursuits of Happiness is that it finally provides a solid framework for the serious discussion of the great dialogue comedies of the thirties and forties, perhaps the most revived and loved movies of Hollywood’s golden period.

American Film - Al LaValley

The great achievement of…Pursuits of Happiness is that it finally provides a solid framework for the serious discussion of the great dialogue comedies of the thirties and forties, perhaps the most revived and loved movies of Hollywood's golden period.

American Film - Al Lavalley

This is a voice like no other in philosophy, today or ever.
— Arthur C. Danto

October

No book about the art of Hollywood I have ever read can make its readers stop and think more effectively than this one.
— S. S. Prawer

Times Literary Supplement

Stanley Cavell's book succeeds brilliantly…The individual 'readings' of the films and the general conceptual plan in which they are embedded are both so rich and rewarding that…'brilliant'…seems an understatement.
— Gerald Mast

Journal of Aesthetic Education

This just must be, in its close readings and its stunning associations, one of the most compelling accounts of its kind. The fact is, it just is its kind.
— Geoffrey Hawthorn

London Review of Books

The great achievement of…Pursuits of Happiness is that it finally provides a solid framework for the serious discussion of the great dialogue comedies of the thirties and forties, perhaps the most revived and loved movies of Hollywood's golden period.
— Al LaValley

American Film