Conformism, Non-Conformism and Anti-Conformism in the Culture of the United States

Επιμ. Αντώνης Μπαλασόπουλος, Gesa Mackenthun, Θεοδώρα Τσιμπούκη
Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2008. 330 σελίδες.

Αποσπάσματα βιβλιοκριτικών:

The collection thus ends on a rather bleak note, and yet its multiplicity of essays on (non-)conformism in the USA as a node in a global network shows that the subject is far from obsolete, precisely since it is still possible to constantly renegotiate ideas of (non-)conformism. This volume, almost flawlessly edited and well-structured despite the diversity of content, is itself a statement that reminds readers of the strong non-conformist tendency in American Studies, and about the desirability of keeping it that way.

Sascha Pöhlmann, Amerikastudien 54.3 (2009)

Conformism, Non-Conformism and Anti-Conformism in the Culture of the United States furthers American Studies in Europe by revisiting the questions that have always concerned the world’s relation to America: How does America treat order and anarchy, law and outlaw, democracy and despotism, and what does our own negotiation of these discourses tell us about ourselves? As Balasopoulos perceptively observes in the Introduction, “It is by opening itself to the mind-renewing impact of such energies, after all, that the relational project of European American Studies enacts its own impossible possibility, its own double commitment to distance-annihilating and distance-instituting work” (5).

Polina Mackay, European Journal of American Studies, 2009

The volume’s strengths lie in its intriguing theme and its transdisciplinary approach, which is accentuated by the international scope of its contributors (authors include Donald Pease, Heinz Ickstadt, Susana Delfino, Albena Bakratcheva, Marek Wilczynski, Johannes Völz, Marc Amfreville, Andrew S. Gross, Yves-Charles Grandjeat, Thomas Pughe, Susanne Rohr, Peter Loizos, Dimitris Liokaftos, Hilaria Loyo, Alexandra Ganser, Karin Hoepker, Frank Mehring, Berndt Ostendorf, and Arthur Redding). One of the most appealing qualities of the volume is that it provides an excellent overview of the range of American Studies topics currently being examined by European scholars. It is clear that European academics are invested not only in rereading, reinterpreting, and to a certain extent deconstructing “classic” American writers and their texts, but also in making significant contributions to international intellectual trends such as the growing interest in post-modernism, ecoliterature and criticism, and metafiction.

Tanfer Emin Tunç, Journal of American Studies of Turkey 27 (Spring 2008)