Cavell and the Comedy of Remarriage

Philosophy Research Archives 14:581-603 (1988)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This paper deals critically with Stanley Cavell’s Pursuits of Happiness, a study of seven film comedies from the 30’s and 40’s, among them The Philadelphia Story, His Girl Friday, Adam’s Rib, and It Happened One Night. Negatively, I argue that Cavell’s interpretations of the films he deals with are often extravagant, if held to any objective standard; that his conception of the genre of the comedy of remarriage is highly arbitrary, both in its inclusions and exclusions, and in its contention that the genre does not have a history; and that the philosophy of marriage implicit in Cavell’s criticism is unsatisfactory in implying the illegitimacy of most existing marriages. Positively, I support his contentions that the genre has its roots in Shakespearean comedy and that the films often (sometimes quite consciously) raise the very difficult philosophical questions Cavell takes them to raise. Though I find much to disagree with, I contend that Cavell is writing criticism of the highest order.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,593

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Cavell on film.Stanley Cavell - 2005 - Albany: State University of New York Press. Edited by William Rothman.
Contending with Stanley Cavell.Stanley Cavell & Russell B. Goodman (eds.) - 2005 - New York: Oxford University Press.
The Cavell reader.Stanley Cavell - 1996 - Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell. Edited by Stephen Mulhall.
Stanley Cavell and literary skepticism.Michael Fischer - 1989 - Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Cavell, companionship, and Christian theology.Peter Dula - 2011 - New York: Oxford University Press.
The claim to community: essays on Stanley Cavell and political philosophy.Andrew Norris (ed.) - 2006 - Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.
Cavell on expression.Stanley Cavell & David Hills - 1980 - Journal of Philosophy 77 (11):745-746.
Reasonable claims: Cavell and the tradition.Stanley Cavell & Barry Stroud - 1980 - Journal of Philosophy 77 (11):731-744.

Analytics

Added to PP
2011-12-02

Downloads
58 (#248,081)

6 months
1 (#1,040,386)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references