The Year’s Work in Lebowski Studies

Edward P. Comentale is Associate Professor of English at Indiana University Bloomington. He is author of Modernism, Cultural Production, and the British Avant-Garde and editor (with Stephen Watt and Skip Willman) of Ian Fleming and James Bond (IUP, 2005) and (with Andrzej Gasiorek) of T.E. Hulme and the Question of Modernism.Aaron Jaffe is Associate Professor of English at the University of Louisville. He is author of Modernism and the Culture of Celebrity.

The Year's Work in Lebowski Studies contains neither arid analyses nor lectures for the late-night crowd, but new ways of thinking and writing about film culture.

Introduction / Edward P. Comentale and Aaron JaffePart 1. Ins (Intrinsic Models and Influences)1. The Really Big Sleep: Jeffrey Lebowski as the Second Coming of Rip Van Winkle / Fred Ashe2. A Once and Future Dude: The Big Lebowski as Medieval Grail-Quest / Andrew Rabin3. Dudespeak: Or, How to Bowl like a Pornstar / Justus Nieland4. Metonymic Hats and Metaphoric Tumbleweeds: Noir Literary Aesthetics in Miller's Crossing and The Big Lebowski / Christopher Raczkowski5. The Dude and the New Left / Stacy Thompson6. The Big Lebowski and Paul de Man: Historicizing Irony and Ironizing Historicism / Joshua Kates7. Lebowski and the Ends of Postmodern American Comedy / Matthew Biberman8. Found Document: The Stranger's Commentary and a Note on His Method / Thomas B. Byers9. No Literal Connection: Mass Commodification, U.S. Militarism, and the Oil Industry in The Big Lebowski / David Martin-Jones10. "I'll Keep Rolling Along": Some Notes on Singing Cowboys and Bowling Alleys in The Big Lebowski / Edward P. ComentalePart 2. Outs (Eccentric Activities and Behaviors)11. What Condition the Postmodern Condition Is In: Collecting Culture in The Big Lebowski / Allan Smithee12. Holding Out Hope for the Creedence: Music and the Search for the Real Thing in The Big Lebowski / Diane Pecknold13. "Fuck It, Let's Go Bowling": The Cultural Connotations of Bowling in The Big Lebowski / Bradley D. Clissold14. LebowskIcons: The Rug, The Irong Lung, The Tiki Bar, and Busby Berkeley / Dennis Hall and Susan Grove Hall15. On the White Russian / Craig N. Owens16. Professor Dude: An Inquiry into the Appeal of His Dudeness for Contemporary College Students / Richard Gaughran17. Abiding (as) Animal: Marmot, Pomeranian, Whale, Dude / David Pagano18. Logjammin' and Gutterballs: Masculinities in The Big Lebowski / Dennis Allen19. Size Matters / Judith Roof20. Brunswick = Fluxus / Aaron Jaffe21. Enduring and Abiding / Jonathan ElmerEndnote: The Goofy and the Profound: A Non-Academic's Perspective on the Lebowski Achievement / William Preston RobertsonWorks CitedIndexList of Contributors