{"product_id":"theory-of-the-gimmick","title":"Theory Of The Gimmick","description":"\u003cp\u003eChristian Gauss Award Shortlist\u003cbr\u003e\nWinner of the ASAP Book Prize\u003cbr\u003e\nA Literary Hub Book of the Year\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e“Makes the case that the gimmick…is of tremendous critical value…Lies somewhere between critical theory and Sontag’s best work.”\u003cbr\u003e\n—Los Angeles Review of Books\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e“Ngai exposes capitalism’s tricks in her mind-blowing study of the time- and labor-saving devices we call gimmicks.”\u003cbr\u003e\n—New Statesman\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e“One of the most creative humanities scholars working today…My god, it’s so good.”\u003cbr\u003e\n—Literary Hub\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e“Ngai is a keen analyst of overlooked or denigrated categories in art and life…Highly original.”\u003cbr\u003e\n—4Columns\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\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\n—Bookforum\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e“A page turner.”\u003cbr\u003e\n—American Literary History\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\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).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\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.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Oxfordbookstore","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45160235073715,"sku":"9780674278745","price":1679.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/4164\/4723\/files\/81MNlnfArSL.jpg?v=1764593802","url":"https:\/\/oxfordbookstore.com\/products\/theory-of-the-gimmick","provider":"Oxfordbookstore ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}