{"product_id":"theory-of-the-gimmick-aesthetic-judgment-and-capitalist-form-9780674278745","title":"Theory of the Gimmick: Aesthetic Judgment and Capitalist Form","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChristian Gauss Award Shortlist\u003cbr\u003eWinner of the ASAP Book Prize\u003cbr\u003eA \u003ci\u003eLiterary Hub\u003c\/i\u003e Book of the Year\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Makes the case that the gimmick...is of tremendous critical value...Lies somewhere between critical theory and Sontag's best work.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Ngai exposes capitalism's tricks in her mind-blowing study of the time- and labor-saving devices we call gimmicks.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003ci\u003eNew Statesman\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"One of the most creative humanities scholars working today...My god, it's so good.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003ci\u003eLiterary Hub\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Ngai is a keen analyst of overlooked or denigrated categories in art and life...Highly original.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003ci\u003e4Columns\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"It is undeniable that part of what makes Ngai's analyses of aesthetic categories so appealing...is simply her capacity to speak about them brilliantly.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003ci\u003eBookforum\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"A page turner.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003ci\u003eAmerican Literary History\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDeeply objectionable and yet strangely attractive, the gimmick comes in many guises: a musical hook, a financial strategy, a striptease, a novel of ideas. Above all, acclaimed theorist Sianne Ngai argues, the gimmick strikes us both as working too little (a labor-saving trick) and working too hard (a strained effort to get our attention). \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhen we call something a gimmick, we register misgivings that suggest broader anxieties about value, money, and time, making the gimmick a hallmark of capitalism. With wit and critical precision, Ngai explores the extravagantly impoverished gimmick across a range of examples: the fiction of Thomas Mann, Helen DeWitt, and Henry James; the video art of Stan Douglas; the theoretical writings of Stanley Cavell and Theodor Adorno. Despite its status as cheap and compromised, the gimmick emerges as a surprisingly powerful tool in this formidable contribution to aesthetic theory.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Belknap Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50725708202258,"sku":"9780674278745","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_fc01425f-33ab-401e-b8f0-7a0815fc6767.jpg?v=1734840085","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/theory-of-the-gimmick-aesthetic-judgment-and-capitalist-form-9780674278745","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}