Return to Twin Peaks: New Approaches to Materiality, Theory, and Genre on Television

by Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock (Editor), Catherine Spooner (Editor)

Overview

Return to Twin Peaks offers new critical considerations and approaches to the Twin Peaks series, as well as reflections on its significance and legacy. With texts that analyze the ways in which readers and viewers endow texts with meaning in light of historically situated and culturally shared emphases and interpretive strategies, this volume showcases the ways in which new theoretical paradigms can reinvigorate and enrich understanding of what Twin Peaks was and what it has become since it went off the air in 1991.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781349571406
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan US
Publication date:	02/10/2016
Edition description:	1st ed. 2016
Pages:	262
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jeffrey Andrew Weinsk is Professor of Language and Literature in the Department of English at Central Michigan University, USA. He is the author, editor, or co-editor of 19 books, including The Works of Tim Burton: From Margins to Mainstream (Palgrave, 2013). He is an associate editor of the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts.

Catherine Spooner is Reader in Literature and Culture at Lancaster University, UK. She is the author, editor, or co-editor of numerous books, including Monstrous Media/Spectral Subjects: Imaging Gothic from the Nineteenth Century to the Present (2015). Since 2013, she has been the co-president of the International Gothic Association.

Table of Contents

Introduction. “It is Happening Again”: New Reflections on Twin Peaks (Jeffrey Andrew Weinsk).- Part I. The Matter of Twin Peaks.- 1. Wondrous and Strange: The Matter of Twin Peaks (Jeffrey Andrew Weinsk).- 2. Substance Abuse: Special Agent Dale Cooper, “What’s the Matter?” (Martha P. Nochimson).- 3. “The Owls Are Not What They Seem”: Animals and Nature in Twin Peaks (Sherryl Vint).- 4. “That Cherry Pie is Worth a Stop”: Food and Spaces of Consumption in Twin Peaks (Lorna Piatti-Farnell).- 5. “Wrapped in Plastic”: David Lynch’s Material Girls (Catherine Spooner).- Part II. Twin Peaks, in Theory.- 6. Jacques Lacan, Walk with Me: On the Letter (Eric Savoy).- 7. Lodged in a Fantasy Space: Twin Peaks and Hidden Obscenities (Todd McGowan).- Part III. Genre, Fandom, and New Reflections.- 8. “Complementary Verses”: The Science Fiction of Twin Peaks (J. P. Telotte).- 9. “Doing Weird Things for the Sake of Being Weird”: Directing TwinPeaks (Stacey Abbott).- 10. “I’ll See You Again in 25 Years”: Paratextually Re-commodifying and Revisiting Anniversary Twin Peaks (Matt Hills).- 11. Nightmare in Red? Twin Peaks Parody, Homage, Intertextuality, and Mashup (Lorna Jowett).- 12. Trapped in the Hysterical Sublime: Twin Peaks, Postmodernism, and the Neoliberal Now (Linnie Blake).

Editorial Reviews

"This is a superb collection of essays on Twin Peaks. Editors Weinsk and Spooner have assembled an array of top-notch scholars, who address the series from a wide range of critical perspectives - from ecocriticism to psychoanalysis to 'thing theory' to fan studies. The chapters play off one another brilliantly, offering a fitting collective tribute to David Lynch's mesmerizing TV masterpiece on the occasion of its twenty-fifth anniversary." - Rob Latham, editor of The Oxford Handbook of Science Fiction

"A quarter-century since its first broadcast, Twin Peaks remains an enigma. But now Weinsk and Spooner have brought together the world's experts on the series, and their discussions of the acting, matter, props, style, psychology, and cultural resonance of Twin Peaks finally lift the veil on the mythical scope of David Lynch and Mark Frost's groundbreaking creation, its legacy and its future. Read this book before you watch the re-boot!" - Ernest Mathijs, Centre for Cinema Studies, University of British Columbia, Canada

"With Twin Peaks set for a much awaited return to the screens, this collection provides a much needed set of fresh perspectives on the ground-breaking show, featuring textual, industrial, theoretical, and reception-based analyses that shed new light on a cult classic. Highly recommended for both students and researchers, this is an invaluable guide to further understanding the intricacies and enigmas of Lynch and Frost's creation." -

Jamie Sexton, Senior Lecturer, Film and Television Studies, Northumbria University, UK

From the Publisher