" The Other Serious: American Essays contains a motley assortment of reflections on the United States as anomaly. Among the many maneuvers in this collection are: A close reading of the light-obsessed "Star-Spangled Banner" alongside the gory French national anthem; an analysis of Jim Henson's "Labyrinth" (1986) as a cryptofeminist fantasy; various forms of praise for oldness, dirt, and boring things; a eulogy for the messy humanity in Richard Linklater's Slacker (1991); and reflections on awkwardness, distraction, the North-South divide, the legacy of the Enlightenment in America, and Apple's goal to make its products totally invisible. Above all, this assemblage of essays proposes a framework for approaching life in our muddled nation with a joyful seriousness"--
- ISBN10 006232036X
- ISBN13 9780062320360
- Publish Date 5 July 2016 (first published 7 July 2015)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Publisher HarperCollins Publishers
- Imprint Collins
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 256
- Language English