SONGS OF THE HUMPBACK SHOPPER (AND OTHER BAZAAR BALLADS)

A couple of years back, I spent some time in California. The place obviously got to me, cos I used my time there to write an admittedly crazy book, Songs of the Humpback Shopper (and other bazaar ballads). It's about people who don't like shopping - Humpback Shoppers, I call them - and I tried to write the text in a way that was 'popular' and 'academic' at the same time. When it came to publishers, however, I discovered that the manuscript had fallen between two stools. It was insufficiently mainstream for popular presses and not academic enough for scholarly imprints.

I've toyed with the idea of rewriting it for one or other audience and I've used little bits of it elsewhere (chapters in Romancing the Market and Imagining Marketing, for example). But, in retrospect, I realise that it is one of those works best locked away in a drawer and allowed to gather dust. If you've been forced to study some of my stuff by your fascist tutors, you might find parts of it of interest. It's not very nice reading in places, I grant you. At least I got it out of my system.

Contents

Preface: On Marketplace Melodies, Consumer Cantatas and Shopping Serenades

1. Beyond Goods and Evil: The Birth of Tragedy out of the Spirit of Shopping

2.Tales From the Crypt of Consumption: Shopping Sturm und Drang

3.It’s a Mall World After All

4.Here’s Another Fine Dress You’ve got me Into

5.Notes From the Underground Car Park

6.Men are From Marks, Women are From Versace

7. The Love That Dare not Speak its Brand Name

8. Will the Real Hyperreal Please Stand Up?

9.Beyond the Displeasure Principle: Consumption and its Discontents

10.American p: Utah kin to me

Notes: You Don’t Have to be Mad to Shop Here, but it Helps

[ Preface ] [ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ]  [ Notes ]