Bringing Light to Twilight: Perspectives on a Pop Culture Phenomenon

by G. Anatol (Editor)

Overview

The essays in this collection use the interpretative lens to interrogate the meanings of Meyer's books, making a compelling case for the cultural relevance of Twilight and providing insights on how we can "read" popular culture to our best advantage.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780230110687
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan US
Publication date:	07/15/2011
Edition description:	2011
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

GISELLE LIZA ANATOL is Associate Professor of English at the University of Kansas, USA, and the editor of two previous books, Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays (Praeger 2003) and Reading Harry Potter Again: New Critical Essays (Praeger 2009). She has published extensively on representations of motherhood in contemporary Caribbean literature, and representations of race and ethnicity in contemporary children's literature. She has blogged about her research into the Twilight phenomenon for the University of Stirling's web forum, 'The Gothic Imagination.'

Table of Contents

Introduction; G.L.Anatol PART I: LITERARY CONTEXTS, PAST AND PRESENT The Wolf in the Woods: Representations of 'Little Red Riding Hood' in Twilight ; M.Kramar Textual Vampirism in the Twilight Saga: Drawing Feminist Life from Jane Eyre and Teen Fantasy Fiction; K.Deffenbacher & M.Zagoria-Moffet Serial Experiments in Popular Culture: The Resignification of Gothic Symbology in Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter and the Twilight Series; C.Veldman-Genz Twilight , Translated; K.Allen Gleed Variations, Subversions and Endless Love: Fan Fiction and the Twilight Saga; M.Lindgren Leavenworth True Blood Waits: The Romance of Law and Literature; M.Wallis PART II: GENDER AND SEXUALITY Wake Up, Bella! A Personal Essay on Twilight, Mormonism, Feminism, and Happiness; T.Dietz 'When you kiss me, I want to die': Arrested Feminism in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Twilight Series; R.Nicol 'One is not born a vampire, but becomes one': Motherhood, Masochism, and Male Mothering in Twilight ; M.Whitton Of Monsters and Men: Toxic Masculinity and the 21st-Century Vampire in the Twilight Saga; T.Bealer The Other Edward: Twilight's Queer Construction of the Vampire as Idealized Teenage Boyfriend; J.Somers & A.L.Hume PART III: CLASS, RACE, AND GREEN SPACE 'Embraced' by Consumption: Twilight and the Modern Construction of Gender; M.Goebel Fashion Sucks…Blood? Clothes and Covens in Twilight and Hollywood Culture; A.Chau Trailing in Jonathan Harker's Shadow: Bella as Modern-Day Ethnographer in Meyer's Twilight Novels; J.Ok Kim & G.L.Anatol The Great American Love Affair: Indians in the Twilight Saga; B.Burke Green is the New Black: Ecophobia and the Gothic Landscape in the Twilight Series; T.K.Parmiter

Editorial Reviews

"A timely collection of scholarly essays on Stephanie Meyer s enormously popular Twilight series which, for better or for worse, has fundamentally altered our reading and understanding of vampires . . .a valuable resource for academics and non-academics alike, not only to trace the cultural and literary impact of the Twilight series, but also to help provide clear literary analysis and cultural contextualization." - Franz J. Potter, Associate Professor, National University

"Shattering the notion that Twilight is not worthy of academic study, Bringing Light to Twilight offers diverse array of approaches to the saga from a wide range of disciplines. An illuminating analysis of the series, this anthology is a discerning response to the Twilight phenomenon and a must-read for scholars of popular culture, media studies, and literature." - Natalie Wilson, author of Seduced by Twilight: The Allure and Contradictory Messages of the Popular Saga

From the Publisher