This month for The Wrath-Bearing Tree I’ve written on a subject in which I’ve long been interested: the lifespan of public popularity and critical acclaim of newly-published books and movies in the days, weeks, months, and years after their release. Everyone has an informal sense of how these things go. Some books are acclaimed immediately, but their reputations fade over time. Others are unnoticed upon release, but gain popularity and acclaim in later years. Some are pronounced great early on and attain and maintain “classic” status afterwards. Sometimes an idea, or passage, or character contained in a prose-work or film retains resonance, even as the original work is more-or-less forgotten.
I think there should be a more formal way of analyzing these processes and phenomena. Maybe it’s been done, but I’ve got a PhD in English Literature and haven’t discovered THE study that systematically and structurally explains the cultural reception and historical reckoning of artworks.
In this month’s Strike Through the Mask! I explore the subject by considering GWOT literature and film using the concept of “cultural biodegradability” as proposed by the French proponent of “deconstruction” Jacques Derrida.
The column is subtitled “The Afterlife of Words and Deeds.” It’s a serious subject, but nonetheless one I hope you enjoy exploring along with me.
Time Now: The Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in Art, Film, and Literature 