Hit the Road, Jack: Essays on the Culture of the American Road

All travelers know the seductive power of the open road and its suggestions of possibility, escape, renewal, and reinvention. Hit the Road, Jack is an interdisciplinary exploration of the significance of the road as reality and metaphor. Engaging with varied cultural mediums such as literature, reality television, philosophy, and political rhetoric, this collection delves deeply into the symbolic implications of the road. Insightful and accessible essays draw upon both classic "road" texts and films, while investigating themes of individual and national freedom, independence and mobility, and destiny. Referencing postmodern theory, gender and queer studies, as well as personal reminiscence and narrative research, Hit the Road, Jack considers the impact that identity - particularly race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation - has on the way various journeys are taken. While literary depictions of the road have a long history, scholarship about the phenomenon is sparse. This anthology makes a significant contribution to the study of the road, bringing to light aspects of its iconic status in American culture. Contributors include Paul Attinello (Newcastle University), Stacilee Ford (University of Hong Kong), Eleanor Heginbotham (University of Maryland), Susan Kuyper (Des Moines Area Community College), Gina Marchetti (University of Hong Kong), Cotton Seiler (Dickinson University), Max J. Skidmore (University of Missouri-Kansas City), Gordon Slethaug (University of Southern Denmark), Michael Truscello (Mount Royal University), and Wendy Zierler (Hebrew Union College -Jewish Institute of Religion, New York).

Literature & Fiction

Slethaug, Gordon E.

Ford, Stacilee

History & Criticism

McGill-Queen's University Press

<p>American women have lived in Hong Kong, and in neighboring Macao, for nearly two centuries. Many were changed by their encounter with Chinese life and British colonialism. Their openness to new experiences set them apart both individually and as a group. Equally, a certain “pedagogical impulse” gave them a reputation for outspokenness that sometimes troubled those around them. Drawing on memoirs, diaries, newspapers, film, and other texts, Stacilee Ford tells the stories of several American women and explores how, through dramatically changing times, they communicated their notions of national identity and gender. Troubling American Women is a lively and provocative study of cross-cultural encounters, shedding light on the connections between the histories of Hong Kong and the US, on the impact of Americanization in Hong Kong, and on the ways in which Hong Kong people used stereotypes of American womanhood in popular culture. Troubling American Women will appeal to students and scholars in history, gender and cultural studies and to all readers with an interest in the encounter between China and the West. </p>

Troubling American Women: Narratives of Gender and Nation in Hong Kong

History

Asia

Hong Kong University Press

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