Author Topic: New Brokeback book  (Read 11305 times)

Offline chowhound

  • Brokeback Mountain Resident
  • ****
  • Posts: 172
New Brokeback book
« on: February 09, 2011, 04:52:14 pm »
A new book of essays concerning Brokeback Mountain is apparently due out in May. Here is some information about it:



    The Brokeback Book: From Story to Cultural Phenomenon
    Edited by William R. Handley

    paperback
    2011. 400 pp.
    13 illustrations
    978-0-8032-2664-7
    $24.95 t
    Expected Availability 5/1/2011

    http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/product/Brokeback-Book,674771.aspx

    An American Western made by a Taiwanese director and filmed in Canada, Brokeback Mountain was a global cultural phenomenon even before it became the highest grossing gay-themed drama in film history. Few films have inspired as much passion and debate, or produced as many contradictory responses, from online homage to late-night parody. In this wide-ranging and incisive collection, writers, journalists, scholars, and ordinary viewers explore the film and Annie Proulx’s original story as well as their ongoing cultural and political significance. The contributors situate Brokeback Mountain in relation to gay civil rights, the cinematic and literary Western, the Chinese value of forbearance, male melodrama, and urban and rural working lives across generations and genders.

    The Brokeback Book builds on earlier debates by novelist David Leavitt, critic Daniel Mendelsohn, producer James Schamus, and film reviewer Kenneth Turan with new and noteworthy interpretations of the Brokeback phenomenon, the film, and its legacy. Also appearing in print for the first time is Michael Silverblatt’s interview with Annie Proulx about the story she wrote and the film it became.

    William R. Handley is an associate professor of English at the University of Southern California. He is the author of Marriage, Violence, and Nation in the American Literary West and the coeditor, with Nathaniel Lewis, of True West: Authenticity and the American West, available in a Bison Books edition.

    Contributors: Martin Aguilera, Calvin Bedient, Colin Carman, Alan Dale, Jon Davies, Chris Freeman, Judith Halberstam, William R. Handley, Gregory Hinton, Andrew Holleran, Alex Hunt, David Leavitt, Mun-Hou Lo, Susan McCabe, Daniel Mendelsohn, James Morrison, Vanessa Osborne, Annie Proulx, James Schamus, Michael Silverblatt, Adam Sonstegard, Noah Tsika, Kenneth Turan, Patricia Nell Warren, and David Weiss.

    “There’s a Chinese saying, that you throw a brick to attract jade. So it is that the most precious thing about filmmaking—the reactions of the viewers—is entirely out of the hands of the filmmakers. We set out to make one film with Brokeback Mountain, and in return, we got an overwhelming number of reactions that we never expected from moviegoers who saw themselves, or the other, or both, reflected on the big screen. There is a whole range of Brokeback Mountains, many of which are explored in the fascinating, sometimes contradictory, and always passionate essays in this book.”—Ang Lee, Academy Award–winning director of Brokeback Mountain

    “Enlightening and provocative, The Brokeback Book is an outstanding collection of personal and scholarly essays. It’s an indispensable guide to a cultural milestone of our time.”—Robert Sklar, author of Movie-Made America: A Cultural History of American Movies

    “This extraordinary collection allows us to understand Brokeback Mountain as a social phenomenon, a revisionist Western, a classic love story, and a deeply transformative experience for millions of gay and lesbian viewers. The best movies do more than entertain—they alter the course of cultural history. The Brokeback Book shows us how and why Brokeback Mountain achieved just that.”—Christopher Kelly, film critic for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Texas Monthly

    “This book itself is a cultural phenomenon. William Handley has assembled a stellar cast of hard-riding contributors and a rich array of takes on the story, film, and ‘event.’ Two dozen essays and a multitude of points of view—from Marxist to genderqueer to creative insider, shaped both in the immediacy of the film’s release and with analytic hindsight—demonstrate eloquently why American culture won’t know how to quit this momentous narrative for many generations to come.”—Thomas Waugh, Research Chair in Sexual Representation and Documentary, Concordia University, Montreal Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema.

« Last Edit: February 09, 2011, 10:41:00 pm by Meryl »

Offline Sason

  • BetterMost Moderator
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 14,161
  • Bork bork bork
Re: New Brokkback book.
« Reply #1 on: February 09, 2011, 04:58:35 pm »
Sounds interesting. Thanks for pointing it out, Chowhound.

Düva pööp is a förce of natüre

Offline Brown Eyes

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • BetterMost Moderator
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 10,377
Re: New Brokkback book.
« Reply #2 on: February 09, 2011, 05:25:01 pm »

Yes, sounds interesting.  Thanks for alerting us! :)

the world was asleep to our latent fuss - bowie

Offline southendmd

  • Town Administration
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 18,959
  • well, I won't
Re: New Brokkback book.
« Reply #3 on: February 09, 2011, 06:02:24 pm »
You can pre-order this at amazon for $16.47.

Offline BayCityJohn

  • Brokeback Got Me Good
  • *****
  • Posts: 772
    • BBM Foundation
Re: New Brokeback book.
« Reply #4 on: February 09, 2011, 06:43:28 pm »

 Photo by Abel Gutierrez. Courtesy of the Autry National Center

That's Bill Handley in the pic, second from the end on the right.

Bill was one of the readers at the Autry event in December. He's a very nice guy in addition to being a hottie.

I'm looking forward to his book.

Offline Meryl

  • BetterMost Supporter
  • BetterMost Moderator
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 12,205
  • There's no reins on this one....
Re: New Brokeback book
« Reply #5 on: February 09, 2011, 10:42:25 pm »
Thanks, chowhound.  Maybe this will give a bump to our analysis threads in the Open Forum!  :)
Ich bin ein Brokie...

Offline Front-Ranger

  • BetterMost Moderator
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 30,287
  • Brokeback got us good.
Re: New Brokeback book
« Reply #6 on: February 15, 2011, 02:58:00 pm »
I'm looking forward to reading the book as soon as it comes out. I have Annie Proulx's latest book on order too. However, I really feel that just one more book needs to be made (at least one, that is). Have you noticed that all of the books about Brokeback Mountain don't have any photos? (correct me if I'm wrong!) Don't you find it odd that a book about a movie doesn't have any photos?   ??? ???
"chewing gum and duct tape"

Offline Jeff Wrangler

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,165
  • "He somebody you cowboy'd with?"
Re: New Brokeback book
« Reply #7 on: February 15, 2011, 03:50:03 pm »
I'm looking forward to reading the book as soon as it comes out. I have Annie Proulx's latest book on order too. However, I really feel that just one more book needs to be made (at least one, that is). Have you noticed that all of the books about Brokeback Mountain don't have any photos? (correct me if I'm wrong!) Don't you find it odd that a book about a movie doesn't have any photos?   ??? ???

I don't. Not really. Not if it's a scholarly-criticism type of book, or, really, anything in the scholarly vein that isn't about the movie itself, or about the movie in the context of the craft of movie-making. You don't need pictures from the film to discuss how the film affected people. As I go back and reread the description in the first post, it seems to me that this isn't a book about the movie. The essay authors apparently aren't interested in things like how many times a bucket appears in the movie. Besides, pictures are expensive to include in books.

Interesting to me to see that the contributors included Andrew Holleran and Patricia Nell Warren.
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline Front-Ranger

  • BetterMost Moderator
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 30,287
  • Brokeback got us good.
Re: New Brokeback book
« Reply #8 on: February 15, 2011, 05:47:04 pm »
I agree with you Jeff that this doesn't appear to be a book about the movie. Neither do any of the other books I have, with the possible exception of Story to Screenplay. One or two are primarily about the story and one would understand why those don't have photos (although the original story DOES have illustrations...watercolors by William Matthews). But, as book after book appears, I'm starting to get impatient to see ONE that has some beautiful color photos in it. Such books have been produced about other movies Ang Lee has done...why not Brokeback Mountain??  ???
"chewing gum and duct tape"

Offline Jeff Wrangler

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,165
  • "He somebody you cowboy'd with?"
Re: New Brokeback book
« Reply #9 on: February 15, 2011, 07:27:29 pm »
I agree with you Jeff that this doesn't appear to be a book about the movie. Neither do any of the other books I have, with the possible exception of Story to Screenplay. One or two are primarily about the story and one would understand why those don't have photos (although the original story DOES have illustrations...watercolors by William Matthews). But, as book after book appears, I'm starting to get impatient to see ONE that has some beautiful color photos in it. Such books have been produced about other movies Ang Lee has done...why not Brokeback Mountain??  ???

I didn't know that about other Ang Lee films. That sounds like a good idea to me.  :)

I've never heard of William Matthews and his water colors.  :(  I don't know much about art, but from what little I can remember from school, water color sounds like a good medium for paintings from this story.  :)
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.