Shock and Awe: American Exceptionalism and the Imperatives of the Spectacle in Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's...

Shock and Awe: American Exceptionalism and the Imperatives of the Spectacle in Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's...
ISBN-10
1611684633
ISBN-13
9781611684636
Series
Shock and Awe
Category
Literary Criticism
Pages
242
Language
English
Published
2013-10-01
Publisher
Dartmouth College Press
Author
William V. Spanos

Description

Inspired by the foreign policy entanglements of recent years, William V. Spanos offers a dramatic interpretation of TwainÕs classic A Connecticut Yankee in King ArthurÕs Court, providing a fresh assessment of the place of a global America in the American imaginary. Spanos insists that Twain identifies with his protagonist, particularly in his defining use of the spectacle, and thus with an American exceptionalism that uncannily anticipates the George W. Bush administrationÕs normalization of the state of exception and the imperial policy of Òpreemptive war,Ó unilateral Òregime change,Ó and Òshock and aweÓ tactics. Equally stimulating is SpanosÕs thoroughly original ontology of American exceptionalism and imperialism and his tracing of these forces in Twain studies and criticism over the past century.

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