Presidential Unrealities - Epistemic Panic, Cultural Work, and the US Presidency. Dissertationsschrift

This book analyzes and historicizes an important and popular motif in contemporary US political discourse: the notion that politics has become increasingly 'unreal.' At the turn of the millennium, the simulated quality of politics in general and of the US presidency in particular has become a major object of concern across a broad range of venues and media: publications in media studies and political science, newspaper editorials, novels, films, and TV shows alike worry over how much or how little we can actually know about the reality of the US president when all our knowledge is based on carefully staged media representations. Rather than adding another voice to this concern, 'Presidential Unrealities' investigates the cultural work such discussions do. Charting their histories and their cultural resonances, the book argues that debating 'presidential unreality' provides a crucial vocabulary by way of which the US public negotiates the postmodernization of American culture and society.

Summary

This book analyzes and historicizes an important and popular motif in contemporary US political discourse: the notion that politics has become increasingly ‘unreal.’ At the turn of the millennium, the simulated quality of politics in general and of the US presidency in particular has become a major object of concern across a broad range of venues and media: publications in media studies and political science, newspaper editorials, novels, films, and TV shows alike worry over how much or how little we can actually know about the reality of the US president when all our knowledge is based on carefully staged media representations.

Rather than adding another voice to this concern, ‘Presidential Unrealities’ investigates the cultural work such discussions do. Charting their histories and their cultural resonances, the book argues that debating ‘presidential unreality’ provides a crucial vocabulary by way of which the US public negotiates the postmodernization of American culture and society.

Product details

• Authors: Sebastian M Herrmann, Sebastian M. Herrmann
• Publisher: Universitätsverlag Winter
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.06.2014
• EAN: 9783825363338
• ISBN: 978-3-8253-6333-8
• No. of pages: 249
• Dimensions: 135 mm x 210 mm x 20 mm
• Weight: 383 g
• Illustrations: 16 Abbildungen
• Series: American Studies / A Monograph Series; American Studies; American Studies - A Monograph Series; American Studies
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > English linguistics / literary studies; Social sciences, law, business > Political science; Wirklichkeit, Medienwissenschaft, Vereinigte Staaten von Amerika, USA, Fiktion, Realitätskonstruktion, Präsidentschaft /U.S.A., Rich, Frank, Politikwissenschaften /U.S.A., politischer Diskurs /U.S.A., Dikursanalyse, mediale Repräsentation