Looking Back at the Jazz Age: New Essays on the Literature and Legacy of an Iconic Decade

From Britains Downton Abbey and Dancing on the Edge to Woody Allens Midnight in Paris and Baz Luhrmanns The Great Gatsby, the Jazz Ages presence in recent popular culture has been striking and pervasive. This volume not only deepens the readers knowledge of this iconic period, but also provides a better understanding of its persistent presence in our time. Situating well-known Jazz Age writers such as Langston Hughes in new contexts while revealing the contributions of lesser-known figures such as Fannie Hurst, Looking Back at the Jazz Age brings together an international and interdisciplinary group of scholars who draw on a wide range of academic fields and critical methods: New Historicism, biography, philosophy, queer theory, psychoanalytical theory, geography, music theory, film studies, and urban studies. The volume includes provocative new readings of the flapper, an intricate examination of the intersections between literature and music, as well as some reflections on the twenty first centurys preoccupation with the Jazz Age. Building on recent scholarship and suggesting avenues for further research, this collection will be of interest to scholars and students in American literature, American history, American studies, cultural studies, and film studies. See more