{"title":"Robert Murray Davis","description":"\u003cp\u003eExplore the works of Robert Murray Davis, celebrated for his insightful literary criticism and meticulous scholarship. Delve into his analyses of modern literature and discover a keen eye for detail.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"playing-cowboys-book-robert-murray-davis-9780806126272","title":"Playing Cowboys","description":"In Playing Cowboys, Robert Murray Davis examines the Western hero-a principal image of American manhood since publication of The Virginian-as portrayed by a variety of post-World War II novelists and filmmakers. Innovative artists have used the Western to discuss issues of ethics and aesthetics, but its greatest impact may have been on popular cultural values. Davis shows that the Western is not primarily about escape or violence, but, at its best, is about development. The would-be hero adopts the existing role only to find it inadequate, and, forced to \"\"reimagine\"\" himself, he defines the Western hero anew. At the core of this process is strength-not power over others, but courage to go beyond the established boundaries. Although women do appear in the Western (often as proponents of \"\"civilization\"\"), it is fundamentally a man's world, offering an important view of male identity.Focusing on The Virginian, chapter 1 explores the origin of the Western hero and the source of the genre's major plots and issues. Chapter 2 evaluates history, myth, and the relative reality of the two in the works of Oakley Hall. Citing the novels of Richard Brautigan, E.L. Doctorow, John Hawkes, and Michael Ondaatje, chapter 3 compares the Western and the gothic novel, focusing on the concept of space. These works portray the West as a wasteland devoid of any vitality, but chapter 4 takes up science fiction Westerns (including works by John Jakes, John Boyd, and Robert Sheckley) that use the Western frontier to ironic and liberating effect. Chapter 5, on the motion picture Blazing Saddles and the postmodern Western novels of Ishmael Reed and Alvin Greenberg, examines the role playing by which identity is created. And in his Preface, Introduction, and Epilogue, Davis frames these discussions with personal observations on the West and its relation to the American masculine mystique.  For those interested in Western movies or novels, popular culture, gender studies, or literary criticism, Playing Cowboys is a unique and indispensable guide to the territory from here to the sunset.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49994421993745,"sku":"CIN0806126272G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0806126272.jpg?v=1767347646"},{"product_id":"evelyn-waugh-and-the-forms-of-his-time-contexts-literature-vol-1-rare-book-robert-murray-davis-1707736622crd","title":"Evelyn Waugh and the Forms of His Time (Contexts \u0026 Literature Vol 1)","description":"1989. No Edition Stated. 268 pages. Contexts \u0026amp; Literature Vol 1. Clean pages with firm binding. Mild wear to spine, board edges and corners. Unclipped dust jacket. Mild wear to edges and corners, with","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50085670224145,"sku":"1707736622CRD","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1707736622CRD_1.jpg?v=1722923537"},{"product_id":"brideshead-revisited-the-past-redeemed-book-robert-murray-davis-9780805781380","title":"\"Brideshead Revisited\": the Past Redeemed","description":"When Steven Soderbergh exploded onto movie screens with \u003ci\u003esex, lies, and videotape\u003c\/i\u003e in 1989, it represented more than the arrival of an important new director--it heralded the arrival of an entire generation of important new directors. Quentin Tarantino (\u003ci\u003ePulp Fiction\u003c\/i\u003e), Kevin Smith (\u003ci\u003eDogma\u003c\/i\u003e), David Fincher (\u003ci\u003eFight Club\u003c\/i\u003e), M. Night Shyamalan (\u003ci\u003eThe Sixth Sense\u003c\/i\u003e), Ben Stiller (\u003ci\u003eReality Bites\u003c\/i\u003e), Michael Bay (\u003ci\u003ePearl Harbor\u003c\/i\u003e), and dozens of others are all members of Generation X, the much talked about but much misunderstood successors to baby boomers. This book is a critical study of the films directed by Gen Xers and how those directors have been influenced by their generational identity. While Generation X as a whole sometimes seems to lack direction, its filmmakers have devoted their careers to making powerful statements about contemporary society and their generation's role in it. Each section of the book deals with an aspect of Gen X filmmaking, including the influence of popular culture, postmodern narrative devices, slackerdom and the lack of direction, disenfranchisement and nihilism, the ever-evolving role of technology, gender issues and sexuality, the question of race, the influence of older filmmakers, and visions of the future.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50102799597841,"sku":"GOR007558883","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0805781382.jpg?v=1750946400"},{"product_id":"evelyn-waugh-and-the-forms-of-his-time-book-robert-murray-davis-9780813206776","title":"Evelyn Waugh and the Forms of His Time","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":50670538817809,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50670539309329,"sku":"GOR014031008","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0813206774.jpg?v=1750818871"},{"product_id":"born-again-skeptic-other-valedictions-book-robert-murray-davis-9780983305248","title":"Born Again Skeptic \u0026 Other Valedictions","description":"In Born Again Skeptic \u0026amp; Other Valedictions, University of Oklahoma emeritus professor and peripatetic knowledge-seeker Robert Murray Davis tackles the big questions: about origins, identity, emotional and intellectual rootlessness; the little questions: why some small towns call to us and others don't, how academia works, or doesn't; and third-rail questions: about sex, relationships, women, men, religion, and aesthetics. The essays are witty and provocative, and Davis's writing style is both erudite and conversational.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51102830919953,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51102834262289,"sku":"NIN9780983305248","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0983305242.jpg?v=1750851467"},{"product_id":"mid-lands-book-robert-murray-davis-9780820336466","title":"Mid-Lands","description":"Mapping out a cosmos bounded by heaven, hell, Kansas City, and St. Louis, Robert Murray Davis looks back on his life in central Missouri in the 1940s and 1950s. As he recalls his youth and early adulthood in the town of Boonville, Davis wryly contemplates some of the sharp dichotomies by which his world was ordered: grown-ups and kids, blacks and whites, Protestants and Catholics, boys and girls, town and country, work and play, art and life.  Davis sees now that as he grew up in white, postwar mid-America, he seldom pondered the limitations that its \"either\/or\" perspective on life imposed. Sometimes, however, intimations about the world's complexity were too strong for him to ignore. The presence of an occasional black teammate in baseball jarred him into the realization that he knew nothing about some segments of Boonville society. His high school principal's lenient response to a teacher's demand for Davis's expulsion bared a weakness in the united front of adult authority over children. The boldness of the first girl in his class to wear makeup repelled and attracted him—and confused him about sex even more than did his Catholic education.  Many of Davis's recollections involve his family and read like captions to snapshots in a family album. However different they were from each other, the two family branches were unified by their mutual regard for uniqueness of character (Davis says his mother felt that one's real duty was not to be right but to be interesting). Anything said or done by a family member had story potential, and Davis learned at an early age that transgressions were judged less harshly if their retelling enhanced an already varied and idiosyncratic family saga.  Amid droll profiles of relatives like his guntoting, nearsighted grandfather, Davis also passes along such gems of practical information as the best way to kill a chicken and how to judge character by the car a person drives. Combining memoir with social history and inspired storytelling, Mid-Lands is a reflective and entertaining evocation of regional American life.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51136134086929,"sku":"NIN9780820336466","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52147645350161,"sku":"NLS9780820336466","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0820336467.jpg?v=1750818731"},{"product_id":"literature-of-post-communist-slovenia-slovakia-hungary-and-romania-book-robert-murray-davis-9780786432073","title":"The Literature of Post-Communist Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania","description":"Based on extensive interviews with authors, editors, and publishers in four countries, this book examines the economic, social, and literary effect of the end of communist domination and accompanying cultural subsidies in Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania. The end of the communist regime has made the position of writer less lucrative as well as less prestigious within these four countries. Likewise, the countries' respective publishing markets are struggling to adjust to a new economy in which books are more expensive, Western competition is ever-increasing, and distribution systems must be rebuilt. The author addresses each of these concerns as they affect the individual nations and Central Europe as a whole and includes extensive bibliographical citations for primary and secondary works referenced in each chapter.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52137130066193,"sku":"NLS9780786432073","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780786432073.jpg?v=1757556880"},{"product_id":"levels-of-incompetence-book-robert-murray-davis-9780991107438","title":"Levels of Incompetence","description":"Levels of Incompetence is a rollicking reminiscence through eight decades of a life well-spent. Bob Davis is a skilled raconteur whose tales are spiced by the remembered pleasures of academic life, peripatetic travels, and endearing family profiles, and his wit and lively style are on full display.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52858390642961,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52858391036177,"sku":"NIN9780991107438","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780991107438.jpg?v=1765118201"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-robert-murray-davis.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}