{"product_id":"electronic-hearth-creating-an-american-television-culture-9780195079142","title":"Electronic Hearth: Creating an American Television Culture","description":"We all talk about the \"tube\" or \"box,\" as if television were simply another appliance like the refrigerator or toaster oven. But Cecilia Tichi argues that TV is actually an environment--a pervasive screen-world that saturates almost every aspect of modern life. In \u003cem\u003eElectronic Hearth\u003c\/em\u003e, she looks at how that environment evolved, and how it, in turn, has shaped the American experience.\u003cbr\u003e Tichi explores almost fifty years of writing about television--in novels, cartoons, journalism, advertising, and critical books and articles--to define the role of television in the American consciousness. She examines early TV advertising to show how the industry tried to position the new device as not just a gadget but a prestigious new piece of furniture, a highly prized addition to the home. The television set, she writes, has emerged as a new electronic hearth--the center of family activity. John Updike described this \"primitive appeal of the hearth\" in \u003cem\u003eRoger's Version\u003c\/em\u003e: \"Television is--its irresistible charm--a fire. Entering an empty room, we turn it on, and a talking face flares into being.\" Sitting in front of the TV, Americans exist in a safety zone, free from the hostility and violence of the outside world. She also discusses long-standing suspicions of TV viewing: its often solitary, almost autoerotic character, its supposed numbing of the minds and imagination\u003cbr\u003eof children, and assertions that watching television drugs the minds of Americans. Television has been seen as treacherous territory for public figures, from generals to presidents, where satire and broadcast journalism often deflate their authority. And the print culture of journalism and book publishing has waged a decades-long war of survival against it--only to see new TV generations embrace both the box and the book as a part of their cultural world. In today's culture, she writes, we have become \"teleconscious\"--seeing, for example, real life being certified through television (\"as seen on TV\"), and television constantly ratified through its universal presence in art, movies, music, comic strips, fabric prints, and even references to TV on TV.\u003cbr\u003e Ranging far beyond the bounds of the broadcast industry, Tichi provides a history of contemporary American culture, a culture defined by the television environment. Intensively researched and insightfully written, \u003cem\u003eThe Electronic Hearth\u003c\/em\u003e offers a new understanding of a critical, but much-maligned, aspect of modern life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Cecelia Tichi\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Oxford University Press, USA\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/29\/1992\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 272\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.85lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.18h x 6.16w x 0.63d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780195079142\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCecelia Tichi\u003c\/strong\u003e is William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of English at Vanderbilt University. She is the author of \u003cem\u003eShifting Gears: Technology, Literature, and Culture in Modernist America\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eNew World, New Earth: Environmental Reform in American Literature from Puritans to Whitman\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThis title is not returnable\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Oxford University Press, USA","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":40937530163315,"sku":"9.7802E+12","price":36.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/9255\/0515\/products\/img_5690a5e6-974d-449a-8270-b1e91a318da4.jpg?v=1693314496","url":"https:\/\/bookstorenmore.com\/en-de\/products\/electronic-hearth-creating-an-american-television-culture-9780195079142","provider":"Bookstore N More","version":"1.0","type":"link"}