This dissertation is a study of the relationship between product branding and American literature and culture around the turn of the twentieth century. By the late nineteenth century, branding had emerged in the United States not only as a common business practice, but also as a shaping cultural influence. Essentially narratives about the relationships between product, manufacturer, and consumer, brands had a strong impact on both literature and the profession of authorship. I trace this impact in the development of three major narrative forms (realism, naturalism, and modernism) evident in the period. In the writing of William Dean Howells, Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, Edith Wharton, Edna Ferber, and others, as well as in early American cinema, I find a record of changing attitudes toward and responses to branding. Realism, naturalism, and modernism, I argue, were formally constituted to a significant degree both as professional reactions to brandings impact on the literary marketplace and as broader efforts to think through the cultural implications of this business practices growth and development.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-08292008-102918 |
| Date | 24 September 2008 |
| Creators | Graydon, Benjamin Thomas |
| Contributors | Rowena Olegario, Deak Nabers, Jay Clayton, Cecelia Tichi |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-08292008-102918/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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