Mondo James Dean

by Richard Peabody (Editor), Lucinda Ebersole (Editor)

Overview

As the title suggests, this is a vivid collection of stories, poems, dreams, wishes and wild imaginings about an unforgettable actor who lived fast, died young and left a beautiful corpse.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312141219
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/15/1996
Series:	Mondo Series
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.47(d)

Table of Contents

	Introduction	1
	James Dean	5
	Everybody Watching and the Time Passing Like That	8
	Jimmy Dean: My Kind of Guy	16
	The Idol	20
	The 8 O'Clock Movie	33
	From Farewell my Slightly Tarnished Hero	35
	Jimmy the Arab	63
	James Dean	67
	Kings of the Afternoon	68
	Who Killed Jimmy Dean?	80
	South of Eden, Somewhere Near Salinas	89
	1955	108
	No-Man's Land	110
	Son of Dean	116
	From Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean	127
	Jimmy	136
	Rebel with a Cause	168
	Day in the Life	172
	Sausage King	175
	A Strange Occurrence	180
	Little Red and the Hood	181
	Habits of Total Immersion	189

Editorial Reviews

A continuation of the Mondo series that earlier featured Mondo Elvis, ...Barbie and ...Marilyn, this anthology of 23 poems, essays and short fiction depicts the 1950s film icon in a clever romp through the legend's life and death. The editors shift gears smoothly throughout this work of diverse, sometimes bizarre and always quick-witted narratives from writers with often curious connections to the star (Hilary Howard has been told "she looks like James Dean" and Bentley Little has "searched Griffith Park for James Dean's tire iron"). Many contributors have chosen to give voices to such figures as Dean's high school drama teacher, lovers galore and his rehearsal partner in East of Eden. In Michael Hemmingson's "Jimmy," a dying singer in a neo-psychedelic-goth band unwittingly gives Dean a lift out of hell just before she's revived by paramedics. Another highlight is Reuben Jackson's addictive poem "James Dean." In Jack C. Haldeman II's short story "South of Eden, Somewhere Near Salinas," Dean is behind the wheel of his Baker House Special while Natalie Wood awaits him in the stands. Haldeman writes, "As they approached the end of the grandstand, the brick surface gave way to asphalt. Dean stood there, lost in thought. He closed his eyes and visualized all two hundred laps, and how the brick straight in front of the grandstands threatened to jar your teeth out and how it felt like glass when you went from the bricks to the asphalt, just in time to get set for turn one. Repeat 200 times, in heavy traffic." (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly