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American Romances: Essays
"Everything and nothing is sacred in Rebecca Brown's essays. Tongue, word, thought, and intellect all conspire in a free language love of living history, divination, sex, solitude and amusement. She is America's only real rock 'n' roll schoolteacher. Lessons layered with profundity and protracted parallels. Where old world religion, Gertrude Stein and Oreo cookies co-exist in an actual and mystic world of wonder."— Thurston Moore , Sonic Youth "If Rebecca Brown's talent for prose were any tighter, it would be a lyric—to a pop standard. An homage—a menage—to America, exposing what's laid bare in a comic tragic redux. I laughed till it hurt."— Van Dyke Parks , Composer/Arranger "Anyone who can get from the Eucharist, to a Necco Wafer, to the goo beween the Oreo wafers, to the Inquisition, to the goo between the legs of excited young women is a distant sibling of mine. She can dash and she can drift and she is not much interested in the really bad parts that might qualify as confession. She likes the float of quotidian living and I like to read the words upon which she floats."— Dave Hickey , author of Air Guitar The impulse to tell our worst to a bunch of strangers has been fueling American self-hood for 300 there's a direct line from the Puritan confession narrative to today's lurid, inescapable exhibitionism. But whose stories are we telling? This collection of mordant, poignant, and playful essays shows Rebecca Brown at the height of her imaginative and intuitive powers. A wry, incisive social and literary critique is couched in a gonzo mix of pop culture, autobiography, fiction, literary history, misremembered movie plots, and fantasy that plays with the notion of what it is to be “American.” Fantastical connections and unlikely meetings span the course of America’s cultural history in a manic remix, featuring appearances by Brian Wilson, Gertrude Stein, Nathaniel Hawthorne, the Invisible Man, the Abligensian Crusade, John Wayne, Felix Mendelssohn, JFK, Shane, and God. Rebecca Brown ’s books include The Gifts of the Body , The Last Time I Saw You , The Haunted House , Terrible Girls , and The End of Youth .
- GenresEssaysNonfiction
256 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2009
6 people are currently reading
262 people want to read
About the author
Rebecca Brown
43 books118 followersRebecca Brown’s diverse oeuvre contains collections of essays and short stories, a fictionalized autobiography, a modern bestiary, a memoir in the guise of a medical dictionary, a libretto for a dance opera, a play, and various kinds of fantasy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_...
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
August 17, 2009
i think i'm in love. totally head over heels in love. luuuuuuuuv.
considering that i already obsessively check websites to get even a whisper of a possible new rebecca brown book, then count down the days til i can buy and read the new book, i think i was already a little bit in love.
and, to be perfectly honest, i was the tiniest bit disappointed to learn it was non-fiction this time, no gut-wrenching heart-stomping little bundles of stories that hurt so unbelievably good, but i was like hey, it's rebecca brown, it's bound to be just as good.
it's freaking awesome. i can't even explain it properly. it's non-fiction written in the style of rebecca brown. which, seems fairly obvious, but if you think about it, it's not. it's not rebecca brown wrote non-fiction, it's... maybe a completely different way of thinking about non-fiction. it's like a rebecca brown story except this time you know exactly who the characters are. sort of. but they're real. sort of.
unfortunately now i have to wait a small eternity for another book.
considering that i already obsessively check websites to get even a whisper of a possible new rebecca brown book, then count down the days til i can buy and read the new book, i think i was already a little bit in love.
and, to be perfectly honest, i was the tiniest bit disappointed to learn it was non-fiction this time, no gut-wrenching heart-stomping little bundles of stories that hurt so unbelievably good, but i was like hey, it's rebecca brown, it's bound to be just as good.
it's freaking awesome. i can't even explain it properly. it's non-fiction written in the style of rebecca brown. which, seems fairly obvious, but if you think about it, it's not. it's not rebecca brown wrote non-fiction, it's... maybe a completely different way of thinking about non-fiction. it's like a rebecca brown story except this time you know exactly who the characters are. sort of. but they're real. sort of.
unfortunately now i have to wait a small eternity for another book.
July 2, 2017
I love Rebecca Brown's style of writing. She ties together a lot of ideas and loose details about the world into a web of sticky, sometimes contradictory evidence. Her essays' central theme is not forced down your throat, so to speak, but images that support those themes are more knocked into your head until you either see them or don't.
My favorites here were "Priests" and "Invisible". "Priests" explores a link between Catholicism and erotic sexuality and Oreos. "Invisible" is a web of footnotes (the footnotes take up more space than the body of the essay), using the metaphor of the old Invisible Man movie series to talk about closeted homosexuality and its effects on humanity. Or something like that.
I think I liked this better than I like Brown's fiction, in fact. Her use of pop culture as a sort of museum of identity is fun and insightful to read.
My favorites here were "Priests" and "Invisible". "Priests" explores a link between Catholicism and erotic sexuality and Oreos. "Invisible" is a web of footnotes (the footnotes take up more space than the body of the essay), using the metaphor of the old Invisible Man movie series to talk about closeted homosexuality and its effects on humanity. Or something like that.
I think I liked this better than I like Brown's fiction, in fact. Her use of pop culture as a sort of museum of identity is fun and insightful to read.
June 20, 2022
There truly are so many different ways to process our way through the world.
August 1, 2016
Los Angeles Times
"The essays in American Romances cover a lot of ground: listening, faith, invisibility, extreme reading, the West. They practically read themselves, that's how much fun they are." —Susan Salter Reynolds
Lambda Book Report
"In American Romances, her new book of essays, Rebecca Brown has a voice that is full of pop references, family stories, and the fruits of a lifetime of -- in her perfect phrase – extreme reading. The voice is a hoot, and it is dead serious. This is writing with exquisite control, fully up to the task Brown takes on of playing a fierce game of beach ball with deep problems of American (and personal) history and identity." —Susan Stinson
Sixers Review
"Rebecca Brown's American Romances tickles the minds of her readers, enticing their imaginations and provoking their sensibilities to follow her on journey through a course of history that explores all figures and moments iconic to the American experience. Making bold statements in drawing delightfully unexpected connections, this collection of essays conscientiously acknowledges its wild, sometimes carnivalesque perceptions and flourishes them for the reader unapologetically. With its frank curiosity and often irreverent confessions, Brown’s pen produces a voice that is both refreshing and confidential – one has the distinct impression that as readers we are being offered a glimpse into thoughts and experiences that have not before been uttered, let alone written. The endnotes that culminate each chapter maintain the collection’s insightful and witty humor. Drawing upon literature, film, music and history, American Romances is a work whose wide spectrum probes at the reader’s senses and, as varying frequencies resonate within her audience, Brown has written a book that, in fact, Becomes more your own with every read." —Natalie Yasmin Soto
Los Angeles Times
"'Some things, no matter how far apart, occur again the same. They happen the same again and over again. The same except for different, and forever.' Now that we are swimming in information, facts often seem more like flotsam than train tracks leading anywhere. The circle seems ever more appropriate as the shape of history.
Rebecca Brown, info-entrepreneur, can write her own history, pairing, for example, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Brian Wilson (who grew up in Hawthorne, Calif.). 'Hawthorne, writer from the east, and Hawthorne, suburb in the west, are twisted in a Mobius strip: the child and its evil twin, the maker and its son. The City on the Hill became the suburb in the sand.'
Out of this archaeology comes a new view of Puritanism, scarlet letters, dreams of the Founding Fathers. Snail paths intersect at junctions (matrices) formed by common names and places. Brown admits to being a nostalgic child (nostalgia as a kind of pain, 'The pain of returning returns . . . the pain of leaving what you left / and knowing what you wanted never was.')
The essays in 'American Romances' cover a lot of ground: listening, faith, invisibility, extreme reading, the West. They practically read themselves, that's how much fun they are." -- Susan Salter Reynolds
Library Journal
"In this anomalous collection of eight essays, Brown (The Gifts of the Body) juxtaposes her personal history with classic literature and movies. . . This whimsical flight of imagination shows how books and reading have influenced the author's life. Recommended for creative writing students and aspiring writers." —Joyce Sparrow
Molossus
"Ultimately, American Romances offers bold reflection on the complicated question of trying to figure out just what is and isn't American. Rebecca Brown has written a fun and powerful book that balances its insight with entertainment." —Ted English
"The essays in American Romances cover a lot of ground: listening, faith, invisibility, extreme reading, the West. They practically read themselves, that's how much fun they are." —Susan Salter Reynolds
Lambda Book Report
"In American Romances, her new book of essays, Rebecca Brown has a voice that is full of pop references, family stories, and the fruits of a lifetime of -- in her perfect phrase – extreme reading. The voice is a hoot, and it is dead serious. This is writing with exquisite control, fully up to the task Brown takes on of playing a fierce game of beach ball with deep problems of American (and personal) history and identity." —Susan Stinson
Sixers Review
"Rebecca Brown's American Romances tickles the minds of her readers, enticing their imaginations and provoking their sensibilities to follow her on journey through a course of history that explores all figures and moments iconic to the American experience. Making bold statements in drawing delightfully unexpected connections, this collection of essays conscientiously acknowledges its wild, sometimes carnivalesque perceptions and flourishes them for the reader unapologetically. With its frank curiosity and often irreverent confessions, Brown’s pen produces a voice that is both refreshing and confidential – one has the distinct impression that as readers we are being offered a glimpse into thoughts and experiences that have not before been uttered, let alone written. The endnotes that culminate each chapter maintain the collection’s insightful and witty humor. Drawing upon literature, film, music and history, American Romances is a work whose wide spectrum probes at the reader’s senses and, as varying frequencies resonate within her audience, Brown has written a book that, in fact, Becomes more your own with every read." —Natalie Yasmin Soto
Los Angeles Times
"'Some things, no matter how far apart, occur again the same. They happen the same again and over again. The same except for different, and forever.' Now that we are swimming in information, facts often seem more like flotsam than train tracks leading anywhere. The circle seems ever more appropriate as the shape of history.
Rebecca Brown, info-entrepreneur, can write her own history, pairing, for example, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Brian Wilson (who grew up in Hawthorne, Calif.). 'Hawthorne, writer from the east, and Hawthorne, suburb in the west, are twisted in a Mobius strip: the child and its evil twin, the maker and its son. The City on the Hill became the suburb in the sand.'
Out of this archaeology comes a new view of Puritanism, scarlet letters, dreams of the Founding Fathers. Snail paths intersect at junctions (matrices) formed by common names and places. Brown admits to being a nostalgic child (nostalgia as a kind of pain, 'The pain of returning returns . . . the pain of leaving what you left / and knowing what you wanted never was.')
The essays in 'American Romances' cover a lot of ground: listening, faith, invisibility, extreme reading, the West. They practically read themselves, that's how much fun they are." -- Susan Salter Reynolds
Library Journal
"In this anomalous collection of eight essays, Brown (The Gifts of the Body) juxtaposes her personal history with classic literature and movies. . . This whimsical flight of imagination shows how books and reading have influenced the author's life. Recommended for creative writing students and aspiring writers." —Joyce Sparrow
Molossus
"Ultimately, American Romances offers bold reflection on the complicated question of trying to figure out just what is and isn't American. Rebecca Brown has written a fun and powerful book that balances its insight with entertainment." —Ted English
August 29, 2009
Rebecca Brown has written some very essential liner notes to the noise of America. That noise being our pop culture but also all the simmering fractures beneath it: she re-connects the Beach Boys' "Surfer Girl" to its original wellspring (Jiminy Cricket's "When You Wish Upon a Star," but then welds Brian Wilson's Hawthorne (California) to Nathaniel Hawthorne and to her own family history. She nails the conundrum of America: its simultaneous promise and continual failure, and still, the possibility to reconcile these mutually exclusive situations, the possibility to forgive its fathers--or perhaps not. (And boom, what took holy Greil Marcus to do in 300 pages (THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME), Brown does in 20.)
Other essays cover LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, the one and true origin of Oreos, Mendelssohn, Oscar Wilde, the movie Shane, John Wayne, Radclyffe Hall, what it means to see. Brown's own history plays a necessary part. There is a paragraph on page 149 that requires memorization, and would be unfair to quote here, since it will be more enjoyable for one to read the whole essay.
Brown writes highly readable prose with lengthy, broad-ranging footnotes. She uses parentheses-within-parentheses, and conversational asides. When writing about movies, she interchanges names of actors and the characters they play. These are not devices or gimmicks: it's partly how we talk, and partly the design of a book whose subject is revolution. The whole book is an inversion of dominant chords, structures, histories, projected futures. And as such it's an illumination, in the sense of the scribes in the old churches. But here the writing is in the vernacular: not meaning "unlearned," but from its root "verna," meaning slave (or someone else who is Invisible, e.g. lesbian, woman, different) born in the master's house, telling her/their own story.
*
WHY I READ THIS BOOK: A while back, I'd gotten myself a major present for starting my own business. The book was a $200 book, gigantic, amazing, on the history of the Circus. I got it from Bailey Coy, where you can earn a discount after buying 11 books. Getting a percentage back from the Circus book, along with 10 others, gave me a big fat credit to redeem. So much so, that even after choosing Dave Eggers' Zeitoun, I still had room for another free book! I spotted AMERICAN ROMANCES on the counter... I knew it was out, and had even read the Brian Wilson piece earlier (Rebecca is a neighbor of mine and we know each other through the writing community too). But here was my chance to read the whole thing. Generally it might take me a while to get to a new book, but I dove in the very next day, before Eggers or any other book in the pile.
Other essays cover LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, the one and true origin of Oreos, Mendelssohn, Oscar Wilde, the movie Shane, John Wayne, Radclyffe Hall, what it means to see. Brown's own history plays a necessary part. There is a paragraph on page 149 that requires memorization, and would be unfair to quote here, since it will be more enjoyable for one to read the whole essay.
Brown writes highly readable prose with lengthy, broad-ranging footnotes. She uses parentheses-within-parentheses, and conversational asides. When writing about movies, she interchanges names of actors and the characters they play. These are not devices or gimmicks: it's partly how we talk, and partly the design of a book whose subject is revolution. The whole book is an inversion of dominant chords, structures, histories, projected futures. And as such it's an illumination, in the sense of the scribes in the old churches. But here the writing is in the vernacular: not meaning "unlearned," but from its root "verna," meaning slave (or someone else who is Invisible, e.g. lesbian, woman, different) born in the master's house, telling her/their own story.
*
WHY I READ THIS BOOK: A while back, I'd gotten myself a major present for starting my own business. The book was a $200 book, gigantic, amazing, on the history of the Circus. I got it from Bailey Coy, where you can earn a discount after buying 11 books. Getting a percentage back from the Circus book, along with 10 others, gave me a big fat credit to redeem. So much so, that even after choosing Dave Eggers' Zeitoun, I still had room for another free book! I spotted AMERICAN ROMANCES on the counter... I knew it was out, and had even read the Brian Wilson piece earlier (Rebecca is a neighbor of mine and we know each other through the writing community too). But here was my chance to read the whole thing. Generally it might take me a while to get to a new book, but I dove in the very next day, before Eggers or any other book in the pile.
October 6, 2009
In this bountiful blend of writing, Rebecca Brown discusses the interpretation of words in the past and present. She mixes classic pieces of writing with contemporary history and combines her own coming-of-age anecdotes with other writings. Her commentary is sometimes shocking, sometimes eloquent, and overall, leaves you to wonder what she is thinking. Why does she choose to develop these essays this way? By reading more, you realize her point: for her entire life, she has tried tirelessly to figure out what is it to be “American.”
Brown's voice strongly suggests a quirky, laugh-out-loud approach to life. At times, her stream of consciousness takes hold, but you want to jump right in with her. Pleasant and insightful, this collection of essays illuminates thoughts many of us had beginning in high school and in current revisiting of classics. Every step of the way, Brown provides more substance to the confusing idea of "American."
Weaving in her own self-discovery, Brown humorously reflects on her own past. As a reader, you end up chuckling too, feeling like you can identify with her situations. Her references demonstrate a thorough study of Nathaniel Hawthorne as well as Gertrude Stein; both subjects recur throughout the compilation of essays. Elements of familiarity twist to define romance and Americanism.
Children's books provide a foundation of knowledge for us as we move into more developed interactions with our society. Brown incorporates this into her continued memoirish essays revealing her ongoing pursuit of the “American romance.”
With each unique chapter footnoted (and holding her opinion alongside the factual footnote), American Romances remains a fabulous point of reference not only for Rebecca Brown, but for all of us running with the same questions about the world around us.
Review by Carolyn Espe
Brown's voice strongly suggests a quirky, laugh-out-loud approach to life. At times, her stream of consciousness takes hold, but you want to jump right in with her. Pleasant and insightful, this collection of essays illuminates thoughts many of us had beginning in high school and in current revisiting of classics. Every step of the way, Brown provides more substance to the confusing idea of "American."
Weaving in her own self-discovery, Brown humorously reflects on her own past. As a reader, you end up chuckling too, feeling like you can identify with her situations. Her references demonstrate a thorough study of Nathaniel Hawthorne as well as Gertrude Stein; both subjects recur throughout the compilation of essays. Elements of familiarity twist to define romance and Americanism.
Children's books provide a foundation of knowledge for us as we move into more developed interactions with our society. Brown incorporates this into her continued memoirish essays revealing her ongoing pursuit of the “American romance.”
With each unique chapter footnoted (and holding her opinion alongside the factual footnote), American Romances remains a fabulous point of reference not only for Rebecca Brown, but for all of us running with the same questions about the world around us.
Review by Carolyn Espe
June 27, 2009
Disclaimer first: Rebecca Brown and I are old friends and close friends. We have know each other since about 1975. I have read all of her books, many more than once.
That said, this book is a masterpiece. Brown's first book of non-fiction, American Romances is an unsentimental meditation on American culture from Hawthorne (Nathaniel) to Hawthorne (the SoCal suburb where Brian Wilson grew up). Brown interweaves autobiography, cultural criticism, literary criticism, and general all-round fucking amazing insight to describe the peculiar attraction of our baby-boomer generation to nostalgia. The essay "A Child in Her Time" begins, "I think I was nostalgic as a child. Even before I knew that word, I had the sense that the best was already over with." This essay is of particular interest to my friends in children's literature and culture.
In any event, I am proud and happy that my friend has written such a resonant collection. It is essential reading.
That said, this book is a masterpiece. Brown's first book of non-fiction, American Romances is an unsentimental meditation on American culture from Hawthorne (Nathaniel) to Hawthorne (the SoCal suburb where Brian Wilson grew up). Brown interweaves autobiography, cultural criticism, literary criticism, and general all-round fucking amazing insight to describe the peculiar attraction of our baby-boomer generation to nostalgia. The essay "A Child in Her Time" begins, "I think I was nostalgic as a child. Even before I knew that word, I had the sense that the best was already over with." This essay is of particular interest to my friends in children's literature and culture.
In any event, I am proud and happy that my friend has written such a resonant collection. It is essential reading.
March 9, 2010
It wasn't until I declared out loud that I hated this book that I was able to let it grown on me. Once I admitted that it made me feel foolish and that I couldn't understand the literary and pop culture references, I gave up trying and began to enjoy the book. The essays and style diverge from any I have read, and she plays with a lot of ideas in the writing. The book incorporates autobiography, pop culture, literary history (Nathaniel Hawthorne and Brian Wilson become connected and compared), and other obscure, intellectual genres.
I would recommend the essays with the suggestion that reading this book will be work - such that you can spiral around and around and read the book in different ways - much as she suggests that reading a book becomes a different story for each reader.
Feb. Feminist book group selection
I would recommend the essays with the suggestion that reading this book will be work - such that you can spiral around and around and read the book in different ways - much as she suggests that reading a book becomes a different story for each reader.
Feb. Feminist book group selection
March 11, 2025
Short book, but very creative writing. I enjoyed it immensely. Writer has a lot of style.
August 3, 2009
I thought many things while reading this book, and then I finished it and started over, thinking many different things. I guess the best thing to say here would be the thought that struck me halfway through the first essay, which involved a juxtaposition of the lives and writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of the Scarlet Letter, and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys: This is like reading Sarah Vowell on crack.
Read
August 6, 2010Brown's prose strains for edginess, while her ideas strain at connections. The collection opens with a tenuous juxtaposition between Hawthorne and Brian Wilson around the subject of the tension between fathers and sons. With the exception of "The Priests," which is a moving and jarring memoir of faith and sexuality, the rest of the essays seem to retreat Intro to American Studies topoi that felt sophomoric, if more fun and punky, in the hands of Kathy Acker thirty or forty years ago.
December 8, 2009
Please read this book if you've ever been interested in anything, ever. Especially, though, if those interests have included The Beach Boys, Nathaniel Hawthorne, the Puritans, sex, Gertrude Stein, The Invisible Man, John Wayne, the Cuban Missle Crisis, same-sex religious movements, books, or anything, ever.
November 4, 2010
Brilliant, funny, unexpected, and entirely new. Rebecca raises questions, shifts perspectives, and makes connections as only she and her genius mind can do. I'm looking forward to re-reading this for my book group.
Want to read
August 7, 2009oooh, I love Rebecca Brown.
November 14, 2009
Hard to describe this collection of essays, but I enjoyed them. Rebecca Brown is brilliant but sometimes not very entertaining. These essays, however, delighted me.
April 25, 2010
The essay "Extreme Reading," which is among other things about the subjectivity of our experience of reading any particular book at one moment in time, is a masterpiece.
September 13, 2010
Brilliant, compelling - easy to read but also incredibly challenging and informative. It's a whirlwind of who we are, and who we think we are
June 29, 2012
thoroughly confusing, entertaining, thought provoking, beautiful, frustrating, inspiring, and wonderful. as always. I love Rebecca Brown.
September 2, 2014
American Romances: Essays by Rebecca Brown was another writer instructor at the Northwoods Writers Conference. I don't read many authors of essays but I found her writing incredible!
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews