Slapstick Modernism: Chaplin to Kerouac to Iggy Pop

273 Pages·2016·1.4 MB·English

by  William Solomon

SlapStick
ModerniSM
Chaplin to Kerouac to Iggy Pop
William Solomon
SlapStick
ModerniSM

SlapStick
ModerniSM
Chaplin to Kerouac to Iggy Pop
WIl l Iam Solomon
UnIver SIt y of Ill InoIS Pre SS
Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield
© 2016 by the Board of Trustees
of the University of Illinois
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
c 5 4 3 2 1
∞ This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Solomon, William, author.
Title: Slapstick modernism : Chaplin to Kerouac to Iggy Pop /
William Solomon.
Description: Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 2016. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015046962 (print) | LCCN 2016008362
(ebook) | ISBN 9780252040245 (hardcover : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780252098468 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: American literature—20th century—History and
criticism. | Modernism (Literature)—United States—History.
| Literature, Experimental—United States—History and
criticism. | Silent films—United States—History and criticism.
| Motion pictures and literature—United States.
Classification: LCC PS310.M57 S55 2016 (print) | LCC PS310.M57
(ebook) | DDC 810.9/005—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015046962
For Molly, Eliot, and my parents
for us to appreciate slap-stick may require a revolution in our way of
looking at the arts; having taken thought on how we now look at the arts,
I suggest that the revolution is not entirely undesirable.
—Gilbert Seldes, “the Keystone the Builders r ejected”
We must all involve ourselves and participate in creating the new kind of
humor, in filling in a new page in the world history of laughter.
—Sergei eisenstein, “Bolsheviks Do laugh (thoughts on Soviet Comedy)”
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: The Origins of Slapstick Modernism 1
Par t I: 1920s
1 The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Transportation 31
2 The Politics and Poetics of Attraction I: Dos Passos 63
3 The Politics and Poetics of Attraction II:
Harold Lloyd’s “Thrill” Films 99
4 Becoming-Child: Harry Langdon 123
Par t II: 1930s
5 The Emergence of Slapstick Modernism 147
Theoretical Interlude: Benjamin and the Question
Concerning Second Technology 167
Par t III: 1950s–1960s
6 The Rise of Slapstick Modernism;
or, the Birth of the Uncool 179
Notes 207
Works Cited 229
Index 247

acknowledgments
It is a pleasure to recognize all those who have contributed to this book. I
could not have completed it without the support and advice of numerous
friends, students, and colleagues. While I was teaching at Gettysburg College,
Elizabeth Duquette and Len Goldberg managed to find time in their hectic
schedules to scrutinize and comment on portions of my developing manu-
script. Since arriving at the University at Buffalo, I have continued to benefit
intellectually from among so many others: Damien Keane, David Schmid,
Cris Miller, Carrie Tirado Bramen, and Steven Miller, as well as Josh Lam,
Jesse Miller, and Justin Parks. I am also grateful to Daniel Nasset of the Uni-
versity of Illinois Press for his encouragement through the various stages of
this project. Jeremy Braddock’s insights and encouragement have also been
absolutely indispensable. An earlier version of a section of the introduction
appeared as “Second Technologies: American Modernism and Silent Com-
edy,” in Interdisciplinary Studies: A Journal of Criticism and Theory (Spring
2005): 66–91. A portion of chapter 6 is taken from “Slapstick Modernism:
Charley Bowers and Industrial Modernity,” in Modernist Cultures 2.2 (2006):
170–88. My most profound debt is to my wife, Molly; my son, Eliot; and my
parents, Eric and Irene Solomon. It is only because of their presence in my
life that I was able to see this book through its many incarnations to its end.