Reviews for Walt Whitman and the Culture of American Celebrity

The average rating for Walt Whitman and the Culture of American Celebrity based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-06-18 00:00:00 Richard Turner Someday, I will get myself a gorgeous illustrated edition of Moby-Dick, but until then, this is the next best thing. It's chock-full of beautiful illustrations and other Moby-related artwork through the ages (or at least up until the 90s), all of their artistic and literary significance examined and explained in loving detail. I personally got a little lost during the chapter about abstract Moby art, but that's only because I'm one of those people who just doesn't "get" abstract art. Oh look, I grabbed a bucket of red paint and threw it at a white canvas, calling it a portrait of Ahab's lost leg. ART!!! On the upside, I gained a new appreciation for Rockwell Kent's Moby illustrations. Up until I read this book, I always thought that Kent's straight, pretty, art-deco lines were too clean and manicured for what I always thought was a gritty, battle-scarred, roughly-textured book. Thanks to Schultz, I now understand that Kent knew exactly what he was doing, and that he came closer than most to really getting the spiritual, symbolic, and psychological aspects of Moby-Dick. I would love to see a sequel to this book in the future, one that takes a look at 21st century Moby-Dick artwork. If Elizabeth Schultz thought the Great Illustrated Classics edition of Moby-Dick was bad, I would love to see her reaction to the manga version!

Review # 2 was written on 2018-08-20 00:00:00 Felipe Gonzalez barry moser and basquiat are the best discoveries herein.