Source: Philip Nel, 785-532-2165, philnel@k-state.edu
http://www.mediarelations.k-state.edu/WEB/News/MediaGuide/pnelbio.html
News release prepared by: Michelle Hall, 785-532-6415

Friday, December 13, 2002

K-STATE PROFESSOR AND AUTHOR OF HARRY POTTER READER'S GUIDE OFFERS SECOND BOOK

MANHATTAN -- Kansas State University English professor Philip Nel is helping readers figure out what books are trying to tell them.

In his second book, "The Avant-Garde and American Postmodernity: Small Incisive Shocks," Nel looks at how art makes people think and wonders whether authors' techniques of persuasion really do work on the reader. Nel's first book was the popular look at the Harry Potter phenomenon, "J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Novels: A Reader's Guide."

"Avant-garde art is specifically designed to provoke people," Nel said. But he argues avant-garde productions have stopped being shocking and have become too mainstream to have their intended effect.

Nel points to the cover image of his new book as an example of this idea. It takes the picture of Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald, who allegedly assassinated Kennedy, and turns it into what looks like a rock band performing. The artist has used a computer program to superimpose musical instruments and microphones over images of the gun.

"He turned an assassination into a rock concert," Nel said of the artist. "But what does this mean?" Nel offers this answer: the manipulation of the photo comments on how celebrity collapses moral distinctions; fame values both accused criminal and pop star equally. But now this doctored photo has been sold on T-shirts -- an example of how avant-garde ideas have become absorbed by mass culture and are no longer provocative. The cover is only one of many images Nel uses in his book to make his point.

Another of these examples: a 1928 painting by Rene Magritte of an eye with blue skies and clouds where the whites should be, was considered bold at the time it was conceived. However, by the 1950s CBS began using a version as its logo and the painting lost its original artistic importance.

"Surrealism has become part of pop culture, a vernacular," Nel said. Before, surrealistic images were avant-garde, striking and thought provoking.

The book also argues against the theory that postmodernism is not useful -- some say it combines so much history that none of it means anything. Nel said this idea forgets the viewer or reader has a history. He says the blending of many genres creates interesting juxtapositions meant to raise questions, although the degree of their effectiveness will vary.

Nel's book looks at avant-garde work across genres, including children's books, novels and popular music.

"The Avant-Garde and American Postmodernity: Small Incisive Shocks," published by the University Press of Mississippi, is now available locally at Varney's Book Store. For more information on the publication, go to http://www.upress.state.ms.us/catalog/fall2002/the_avant-garde.html

Nel's next book will be a definitive critical study of Dr. Seuss. He also recently contributed an essay to a book-length study of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels and is working on a biography of influential children's authors Ruth Krauss and Crockett Johnson. In addition, Nel said he plans to revise his Potter reader's guide when the seventh Potter book comes out.

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