Chic Ironic Bitterness

Chic Ironic Bitterness

by R. Jay Magill
Chic Ironic Bitterness

Chic Ironic Bitterness

by R. Jay Magill

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Overview

A brilliant and timely reflection on irony in contemporary American culture

“This book is a powerful and persuasive defense of sophisticated irony and subtle humor that contributes to the possibility of a genuine civic trust and democratic life. R. Jay Magill deserves our congratulations for a superb job!”

—Cornel West, University Professor, Princeton University

“A well-written, well-argued assessment of the importance of irony in contemporary American social life, along with the nature of recent misguided attacks and, happily, a deep conviction that irony is too important in our lives to succumb. The book reflects wide reading, varied experience, and real analytical prowess.”

—Peter Stearns, Provost, George Mason University

“Somehow, Americans—a pragmatic and colloquial lot, for the most part—are now supposed to speak the Word, without ironic embellishment, in order to rebuild the civic culture. So irony’s critics decide it has become ‘worthy of moral condemnation.’ Magill pushes back against this new conventional wisdom, eloquently defending a much livelier American sensibility than the many apologists for a somber ‘civic culture’ could ever acknowledge."

—William Chaloupka, Chair and Professor, Department of Political Science, Colorado State University

The events of 9/11 had many pundits on the left and right scrambling to declare an end to the Age of Irony. But six years on, we're as ironic as ever. From The Simpsons and Borat to The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, the ironic worldview measures out a certain cosmopolitan distance, keeping hypocrisy and threats to personal integrity at bay.

Chic Ironic Bitterness is a defense of this detachment, an attitude that helps us preserve values such as authenticity, sincerity, and seriousness that might otherwise be lost in a world filled with spin, marketing, and jargon. And it is an effective counterweight to the prevailing conservative view that irony is the first step toward cynicism and the breakdown of Western culture.

R. Jay Magill, Jr., is a writer and illustrator whose work has appeared in American Prospect, American Interest, Atlantic Monthly, Foreign Policy, International Herald Tribune, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Print, amongother periodicals and books. A former Harvard Teaching Fellow and Executive Editor of DoubleTake, he holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Hamburg in Germany. This is his first book.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780472024322
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Publication date: 12/18/2009
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 296
File size: 895 KB

About the Author

R. Jay Magill, Jr. is a writer and illustrator whose work has appeared in American Prospect, American Interest, Atlantic Monthly, Foreign Policy, International Herald Tribune, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Print, among other periodicals and books. A former Harvard Teaching Fellow and Executive Editor of DoubleTake, he holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Hamburg in Germany. This is his first book. Visit R. Jay Magill, Jr.'s website.

Table of Contents

\rrhp\ \lrrh: Contents\ \1h\ Table of Contents \xt\ \Comp: set "Fun, pop culturey, refs to known things" & bracket to go with Introduction thru Chap. II\ Introduction: You Are Being Sarcastic, Dude The Argument Chapter I. Good Morning, America The Ironist Sensibility: A Poorly Drawn Sketch Two Manifestations of a Social Character: Ironic & Cool Cool Recent Talk about Contemporary Irony Irony & Cynicism An Extended Note on Nostalgia Chapter II. Excursus on the Genesis of Irony as a Worldview Irony in an Early American Vein: Two Figures Every American Ought to Know \comp: set "More serious, less fun but more substantial" & bracket to go with Chap. III thru Chap. VII\ Chapter III: European Romanticism Ushers in New Meanings of Irony Romanticism German Romantic Irony S ren Kierkegaard Modernism Redux Chapter IV. Irony and Civic Trust Irony Is Just Another Word for the Disintegration of Measurable Social Capital Jeremiads: The Social Tonic Chapter V: Trust, Civil Society, and the Social Contract Social Contract Protestant Values in the Social Contract Chapter VI. The Descent of Inner Dependence Augustine Reformation Calvin and the Self Chapter VII. Inward, Christian Soldiers An American Religion Emerson \comp: set "Again like beginning" & bracket to go with The Wake of Romanticism thru Chapter VIII\ The Wake of Romanticism And Now: The Debate Recast! Resolve Elected Official, Heal Thyself Chapter VIII: Conclusion (i.e. Everything Summed Up Nicely) Notes Bibliography Index \eof\
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