Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood Comedy of Remarriage
Author(s): Cavell (Author)
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Publication Date: January 15, 1984
Language: English
Print length: 296 pages
ISBN-10: 067473906X
ISBN-13: 9780674739062
Book Description
During the ’30s and ’40s, Hollywood produced a genre of madcap comedies that emphasized reuniting the central couple after divorce or separation. Their female protagonists were strong, independent, and sophisticated. Here, Stanley Cavell names this new genre of American film―“the comedy of remarriage”―and examines seven classic movies for their cinematic techniques and for such varied themes as feminism, liberty, and interdependence.
Included are Adam’s Rib, The Awful Truth, Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, It Happened One Night, The Lady Eve, and The Philadelphia Story.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“The great achievement of…Pursuits of Happiness is that it finally provides a solid framework for the serious discussion of the great dialogue comedies of the thirties and forties, perhaps the most revived and loved movies of Hollywood’s golden period.”―Al LaValley, American Film
“This just must be, in its close readings and its stunning associations, one of the most compelling accounts of its kind. The fact is, it just
is its kind.”―Geoffrey Hawthorn, London Review of Books
“This is a voice like no other in philosophy, today or ever.”
―Arthur C. Danto, October
“No book about the art of Hollywood I have ever read can make its readers stop and think more effectively than this one.”
―S. S. Prawer, Times Literary Supplement
“Stanley Cavell’s book succeeds brilliantly… The individual ‘readings’ of the films and the general conceptual plan in which they are embedded are both so rich and rewarding that…‘brilliant’…seems an understatement.”
―Gerald Mast, Journal of Aesthetic Education
From the Back Cover
Each of the seven chapters that follow contains an account of my experience of a film made in Hollywood between 1934 and 1949.
About the Author
Stanley Cavell (1926–2018) was Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value, Emeritus, at Harvard University. His numerous books include The Claim of Reason, Cities of Words, and Philosophy the Day after Tomorrow.
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