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How does literature shape culture
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What are the attributes of a hard-boiled detective? Apart from his "uniform", including a hat, a gun and a tough attitude, he smokes and drinks. A lot. Mike Hammer, the hero of Mickey Spillane, is the embodiment of this concept. At least in his third novel, Vengeance is Mine, published in 1950. The reader will have a hard time if he decides to start searching for a page without a line referring to smoking. This might seem odd for us living in 2011 when we hear all the time that cigarette is lethal and should be banned everywhere. In the 1950s though, tobacco advertising was flourishing and it was not a bad thing if a novel was like a 176 page long advertisement for cigarettes. The audience's taste changes however, and even nuances, like the habits of the main character, can be important enough. Particularly, if the writer's only aim is to get his paycheck which depends on the fact whether he can please his audience. The bottom line is, if smoking is not the trend anymore, because it is dangerous and its advertising is banned in certain states, then the protagonist does not smoke. In Mickey Spillane's The Killing Man Mike Hammer quit smoking, he still drinks though, as we still can see liqour advertisements.
This might be a little difference between the two books, but it is pretty obvious and it shows how the transformations of our world shaped a fictional one. Even if these books share the same genre, hero, some minor characters and a few twist in the plot, they still depict two different worlds. Besides the smoking there are a few other topics of differences, like use of language, pace and violence.
In Vengeance is Mine Mike Hammer keeps his exclamative words for himself and we can read nothing but "nuts", "swore to mysel...
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... drinks all the time, punches anyone in the face, shoots bad guys and gets every woman even if he is the biggest misogyn of the world. In Vengeance is Mine Mike Hammer makes violence to women casual by smacking Connie across the mouth hard and she wants him even more than before. What is his secret? He is popular because he is what we do not dare to be and every time we start a novel featuring him as the hero we know that in the end he will get everything done.
Works Cited
1.Spillane, Mickey: Vengeance is Mine, The New American Library, Inc., 1950
2.Spillane, Mickey: The Killing Man, Penguin Books USA Inc., 1989
3.Walle, Alf H.: Hack writing vs. belle letters: the strategic implications of literary achievement, Journal of Popular Culture, Blackwell Publishers Ltd., 1996
4.Palmer, Jerry: Thrillers: Genesis and Structure of a Popular Genre, Hodder Arnold H&S 1978
Vogler, Christopher. The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers. 3rd Ed. Studio City: Michael Wiese Productions, 2007.
the USA: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers. Ed. Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. 296-304. Print.
One of the biggest determinants for the success of a writer is engaging and maintaining the interest of a variety of readers. While there are endless approaches to telling a story, as well as many writing styles, the most effective writings are the ones that successfully impress a diverse audience. The essays Eating Chili Peppers and Conforming to Stand Out: A Look at American Beauty are two different styles of essays that unveil a similar search for self-gratification. While the essays cover different topics and the authors use different writing styles and approaches to engage the reader, they both unveil a similar underlying message of a search for self-gratification.
“The Road Not Taken.” Literature and the Writing Process. Ed. Elizabeth McMahan et al. 8th ed.
Author’s style is defined as the distinct literary manner that makes his or her expression of content unique from other authors; Katherine Anne Porter and Emily Dickinson have different styles that contribute to a better understanding of the themes of their work. In “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” Porter uses the strea...
Owen, Wilfred. "Dulce et Decorum Est." Literature and the Writing Process. By Elizabeth McMahan., et al. 10th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2014. 695-96. Print.
In both books, these two gangs decide to have a rumble, a fight with all the members of the two gangs. This is one similarity between these books.
In both books they share some traits, even though they may not look anything alike they are. both of these novels are dystopian novels and many characters share similarity’s.
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. Literature and the Writing Process. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X. Day, and Robert Funk. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice, 2002. 987-1042.
Gilbert, S., Gubar, S. (2000) The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and Nineteenth Century Literary Imagination. Yale University Press. Dixon, R W (1886) Personal letters.
Orenstein, Peggy. “What’s Wrong with Cinderella?” The New York Times Magazine. 4 Dec. 2006. Rpt. in Writing Communities and Identities. Ed. Cynthia Debes et al. 6th ed. Plymouth, MI: Hayden-McNeil Publishing, 2009. 50-54.
Glaspell, Susan. Trifles. Literature and the Writing Process. Elizabeth Mahan, Susan X Day, and Robert Funk. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice, 2002. 977-986
and Other Greats : Lessons from the All-star Writer's Workshop. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006. Print.
In Emily Dickinson’s “Publication—is the Auction,” the speaker expresses his or her complicated negative feelings toward publishing. Through an array of literary devices (such as the opening metaphor), stylistic choices (such as the use of dashes and capitalization), and mixed diction (ranging form religious to simply aesthetic) the speaker argues that publication strains a writer’s integrity and is essentially selling out.
Nussbaum, Martha C. “The Literary Imagination in Public Life.” Hard Times. Ed. Fred Kaplan and Sylvére Monod. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2001. 429-439.