Jackie under My Skin: Interpreting an Icon [Mass Market Paperback]

Wayne Koestenbaum (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1996

A brilliant, irreverent, penetrating and wholly original deconstruction of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, American icon. In an eclectic gallery of fantasies and tableaus, Wayne Koestenbaum explains the late First Lady's mesmeric hold on America by discovering the myths and metaphors that have been associated with her.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The same kind of serious play that distinguished Koestenbaum's earlier book, The Queen's Throat, a highly regarded study of opera and homosexuality, shapes the Yale English professor's scrutiny of the late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis?and, more exactly, of the highly charged gap between the private woman and the public icon she became. In brief chapters, her signature sunglasses and scarf, her coiffure ("battle gear of a woman of means"), even the "O" of her name occasion manic, inventive and sometimes wildly funny ruminations. In "Silent Jackie," Maria Callas is quoted as saying that Onassis "spoke like Marilyn Monroe playing Ophelia"; in "Jackie as Housewife," Onassis is at once the devoted helpmate of powerful men and the star whose allure obscured them; "Exotic Jackie," always conscious of her public role, was "in exile from herself, a bemused visitor to her own body." Though some will undoubtedly find the book hopelessly irreverent, those fascinated by the cult of celebrity will find Koestenbaum's analysis of an enduring American icon a compelling contribution in cultural studies. First serial to the New York Times Magazine; Readers Subscription Book Club selection.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

A different look at Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis from the author of The Queen's Throat (LJ 1/93).
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Plume (May 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452276497
• ISBN-13: 978-0452276499
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 4.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,595,826 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Riff on an American Sphynx, October 13, 2004

By 

Matyowynne (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jackie Under My Skin (Hardcover)

I loved it. It has a way of getting to the underlying reasons we Americans are so fascinated with the late Mrs. Onassis. Perhaps, a bit much for some and Auntie Mame-ish, but fun. A totally different take then the usual bio and could be read aloud at some spoken word event, it has that kind of melodic tempo. She was a work of art, so perhaps it takes great art to get to the heart of her allure. I loved the chapter on her "pillbox hat". Check it out. Definitely worth a read.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars fails on every level, February 18, 2010

By 

Em Dashing (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jackie under My Skin: Interpreting an Icon (Mass Market Paperback)

A previous customer described Jackie under My Skin as perfect bathroom reading. At first that was more or less how I, too, attempted to attack this book, but even short passages began to test my nerves, and I soon found myself skipping ahead, looking for the meat of the book. Of course, there is no meat, there are just pages and pages of what happens when an academic tries to write about kitsch----meat-flavored cotton candy. Well, not quite, but something just as empty, incongruous and unpleasant. The author fails to connect what eventually comes across as self-obsession and vanity with the book's supposed subject, and as a result it is not successful as academic writing, as sociological or media study, as biography, or, most importantly, as entertainment.

6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amusing, mezmerizing, campy, hypnotic, October 5, 1999

By 

Christina Onufryk ([e-mail]) (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jackie Under My Skin: Interpreting an Icon (Hardcover)

I simply couldn't put this book down. Kostenbaum's charming analysis of Jackie O's celebrity is dazzling, eccentric and riveting. This book is by no means a biography; rather, the author introduces us to the Jackie of his imagination. Kostenbaum's highly personal essays tranform Jackie-watching from a mere sport into a delightful intellectual and spiritual excercise. It is truly a pleasure to read a book by an author who treats his subject with such playfulness and affection. However, certain Jackie fans might consider such treatment sacreligious and are not likely to enjoy this book.