Madcaps, Screwballs, and Con Women: The Female Trickster in American Culture (Feminist Cultural Studies, the Media, and Political Culture) [Paperback]

Lori Landay (Author)

Book Description

Series: Feminist Cultural Studies, the Media, and Political Culture | Publication Date: February 1, 1998

Women have been tricking men for thousands of years, and female tricksters have been appearing in classic and popular texts at least since the Thousand and One Nights. While there are many studies of tricksters, few have focused on the chicanery of women, and none have dealt with the ways in which the female trickster is constructed in America.

Madcaps, Screwballs, and Con Women is the first book to explore the cultural work performed by female tricksters in the "new country" of American mass consumer culture. Beginning with such nineteenth-century novels as Capitola the Madcap and moving through twentieth-century novels, films, radio, and television shows, Lori Landay looks at how popular heroines use craft and deceit to circumvent the limitations of femininity. She considers texts of the 1920s such as Elinor Glyn's It and Anita Loos's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes; films of Mae West, as well as other Depression-era and wartime film comedy; the postwar television series I Love Lucy; and such contemporary texts as "Roseanne," "Ellen," and "Batman." In addition, Landay explores the connections between these texts and advertisements selling products that encourage female deception and trickery.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An important addition to the study of women in the 'liminal' spaces of American culture in the twentieth century."—Journal of American History

"Beginning with nineteenth-century novels . . . and moving through twentieth-century fiction, film, radio, and television, Lori Landay looks at how popular heroines use craft and deceit to circumvent the limitations of femininity. In addition, Landay explores the connections between these texts and advertisements selling products that encourage female deception and trickery. . . . They tell a powerful story about woman's place and women's power during the sexual desegregation of American society."—ScreenSite

About the Author

Lori Landay teaches in the Department of English and Journalism at Western Illinois University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press (February 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812216512
• ISBN-13: 978-0812216516
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,244,736 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A detailed and revealing study, March 15, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Madcaps, Screwballs, and Con Women: The Female Trickster in American Culture (Feminist Cultural Studies, the Media, and Political Culture) (Paperback)

While this was originally written as a doctoral thesis, it is by no means a dry, academic work. It is well-written, engaging and entertaining, as Landay looks at the existence and role of the female trickster. Like more traditional tricksters of folklore (Brer Rabbit, Anansi) and pop culture (Bugs Bunny), the female trickster in American culture plays with convention, uses disguise to cross boundaries and walks the line between accepted values and subversive behavior. Lucille Ball was such a woman; so were "It" girl Clara Bow, Mae West and Marlene Dietrich, and their existence enriched and to some extent changed society. Well-researched and highly illuminating, this is a great book for anyone looking for a different take on the "women-in-pop-culture" issue.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great scholarship, great reading!, November 5, 2006

By 

Laurel Jenkins-Crowe "jenkinscrowe" (Memphis, TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Madcaps, Screwballs, and Con Women: The Female Trickster in American Culture (Feminist Cultural Studies, the Media, and Political Culture) (Paperback)

This lavishly illustrated study of the female trickster in US culture links Mae West to Catwoman, Lorelei Lee to Lucy, and Rosie the Riveter to Rosanne. The balance between literature and popular culture is perfectly negotiated throughout this chronologically arranged study of how female tricksters "perform [...] the cultural work of transforming the feminine into the human." Highly readable and thoroughly entertaining, Madcaps is a wonderful introduction to and overview of a heretofore neglected subject.