A Massive Swelling: Celebrity Reexamined as a Grotesque, Crippling Disease and Other Cultural Revelations - Softcover

Wilson, Cintra

Softcover

ISBN 10: 014100195X ISBN 13: 9780141001951

Publisher: Penguin Books, 2001

Synopsis

A columnist and cultural critic explores the meaning of fame and celebrity in modern-day society, in a provocative, witty colleciton of essays that takes on such icons as Barbra Streisand the role of the diva, Michael Jackson, Bruce Willis, the Academy Awards, athletic spectaculars, and Las Vegas, "The Death Star of Entertainment." Reprint.

About this title

About the Author:

Cintra Wilson is a columnist for Salon.com and the San Francisco Examiner as well as a critically acclaimed playwright and screenwriter.

From Booklist:

Warning: do not read this book at a wake, on a precipice, or with a full bladder. Unless you're a humorless fan of Cher, Michael Jackson, Barbra Striesand, or Mick Jagger, Wilson's turbo, heat-seeking essays about fame, the bane of our commodified culture, will induce bent-double, breathless laughter. A columnist for Salon and the San Francisco Examiner, Wilson, a latter-day Dorothy Parker without the self-hate, writes about the psychoses the lust for fame induces in the stars, their fans, and countless pathetic wanna-bes. In writing about boy bands, like the New Kids on the Block, Wilson reports on the disturbing fan mail they receive from women old enough to be their mothers. Excessive cosmetic surgery in pursuit of perfect bodies elicits blisteringly hilarious commentary on the likes of Courtney Love and Celine Dion. Smart, supercharged, ethical, and talented, Wilson also takes on the ersatz worlds of the Oscars and Las Vegas, and the malignancy of racism and sexism in Hollywood. Donna Seaman
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About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 014100195X
• ISBN 13: 9780141001951
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 229