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The story of the American self-made man carries a perennial interest in American literature and cultural studies. This book expands the study of such stories to include the writings of Frederick Douglass, Horatio Alger, and James Weldon Johnson, and the work of silent comedians like Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, and Buster Keaton. Thomas Nissley examines a number of texts, from Reconstruction-era autobiographies to the films of the 30s, to show the sustained market value of status and personal authenticity in the era of contract and free labor.
List of contents
Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: Alienable, Intimate, Authentic Alienation and Alienable Property Patronage and the Intimate Economy The Property in Authenticity The Mixed Economies of the Self-Made Man Chapter 1: Free Labor and Intimate Capital: The Postwar Autobiographies of Douglass, Brown, and Washington Outside de Store: Free Labor and Southern Agriculture after the War Hard Earnings and the Intimacy of Reputation: Free Labor in the Life and Times of Frederick Douglass The Fugitive's Southern Home: William Wells Brown's Dispersed Autobiography Clean Buildings: Executive Intimacies and Hard Capital in Booker T. Washington's Up from Slavery Chapter 2: The Nature Theater of Americana: Horatio Alger's Earnest Commodities The Nature Theater of America: The Algers' Life of Edwin Forrest and the Ragged Dick Stories Ben Bruce and the Threat of Commodified Writing Postscript: Alienable Americana and a Mutilated Boy's Gratitude Chapter 3: Racial Credit, White Money, and the Novel of Assimilative Lament Shinyness and White Money The Capital of Yearning Chapter 4: The Reality Effect in the Film Machine: The Authentic Performances of the Silent Comedies Thrills and the Average Boy The Daredevil as Civil Engineer Eisenstein and the Chaplinesque Performances of Anonymity Notes Bibliography Index
About the author
Tom Nissley received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington. He has written for The Stranger andMcSweeney's and works as an editor and writer in Seattle.
Summary
The story of the American self-made man carries a perennial interest in American literature and cultural studies. This book expands the study of such stories to include the writings of Frederick Douglass, Horatio Alger, and James Weldon Johnson, and the work of silent comedians like Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, and Buster Keaton. Thomas Nissley examines a number of texts, from Reconstruction-era autobiographies to the films of the 30s, to show the sustained market value of status and personal authenticity in the era of contract and free labor.
