The Undergrounds of the Phantom of the Opera (Hardcover)

Hardcover. This is an analytical study of "The Phantom of the Opera" in its many different versions from the original Gaston Leroux novel to the 21st century. It proposes answers to the question, "why do we keep needing this story told and retold in the Western world?" by revealing the history of deep cultural tensions that underlie the novel and each major adaptation. Extensive historical and textual evidence and drawing on perspectives from several theories of cultural study, this book argues that we need this tale told and reconfigured because it provides us ways to both confront and disguise how we have fashioned our senses of identity in the Western middle class. "The Phantom of the Opera" in varying ways over time turns out like the "Gothic" tradition it extends, to be deeply connected to Western self fashioning in the face of conflicted attitudes about class, gender, race, religious beliefs, Freudian psychology, economic and international tensions, and especially the shifting and permeable boundaries between "high" and "low" culture. This is an analytical study of "The Phantom of the Opera" in its many different versions from the original Gaston Leroux novel to the 21st century. It reveals the history of deep cultural tensions that underlie the novel and each major adaptation. This item is printed on demand. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.…