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American professor of English and pioneer of pop culture studies
Russel Blaine Nye (February 17, 1913 – September 2, 1993) was an American professor of English who in the 1960s pioneered
popular culture studies .
[1] He was the author of a dozen books, including George Bancroft: Brahmin Rebel which won the 1945
Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography .
Born in
Viola, Wisconsin , Nye received his
bachelor's degree from
Oberlin College in 1934 and his master's degree from the
University of Wisconsin in English the following year. In 1938 he married Kathryn Chaney, and in 1940 he completed his doctorate on
George Bancroft again at the
University of Wisconsin .
[2] Nye taught in the English department at
Michigan State University from 1941 to 1979.
[3]
In 1957 after
Ralph Ulveling , the director of the
Detroit Public Library , claimed that
L. Frank Baum 's novel
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz had no value and should not be stocked by libraries, Nye and
Martin Gardner published a new critical edition of the novel highlighting its value, causing a firestorm of controversy, followed by eventual acceptance.
In 1970 he co-founded the Popular Culture Association with
Ray B. Browne and
Marshall Fishwick , working to shape a new academic discipline called
Popular Culture Theory that blurred the traditional distinctions between high and low culture, focusing on mass culture mediums like television and the Internet, and cultural archetypes like
comic book heroes.
He died in
Lansing, Michigan in 1993.
Works
Russel B. Nye, The Mind and Art of George Bancroft (1939)
[4]
Russel B. Nye, George Bancroft: Brahmin Rebel (1944)
[5]
Russel B. Nye, Fettered Freedom: Civil Liberties and the Slavery Controversy 1830-1860 (1948) Michigan State University Press
Russel B. Nye and Jack Eric Morpurgo, A History of the United States. Volume One: The Birth of the U.S.A. (1955)
Russel B. Nye and Jack Eric Morpurgo, A History of the United States. Volume Two: The Growth of the U.S.A. (1955; Third Edition 1970) Penguin Books
Russel B. Nye and
Martin Gardner , The Wizard of Oz and Who He Was (1957)
[6]
Russel B. Nye, The cultural life of the new Nation, 1776-1830 (1960) New York: Harper
Russel B. Nye, This almost chosen people; essays in the history of American ideas (1966) Michigan State University Press
Russel B. Nye and
Ray B. Browne , Crises on Campus (1971)
[7]
Russel B. Nye and Arra M. Garab, Modern Essays (1971)
[8]
Russel B. Nye, Society and culture in America, 1830-1860 (1974) New York: Harper
Joseph G. Waldmeir, Essays in Honor of Russel B. Nye (1978)
[9]
Harold E. Hinds et al. (eds.), Popular Culture Theory and Methodology: A Basic Introduction (2006)
[10]
References
^
"Russel B Nye" . Social Security Death Index . New England Historic Genealogical Society. Retrieved June 24, 2011 .
^ "Russel B(laine) Nye - 1913-1993" Contemporary Authors Gale
^ Waldmeir, Joseph, Essays in Honor of Russel B. Nye (East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University Press, 1978), vii.
^ Nye, Russel Blaine (1939-01-01).
The mind and art of George Bancroft . University of Wisconsin--Madison.
^ Nye, Russel Blaine (1972-01-01).
George Bancroft, Brahmin Rebel . Octagon Books.
ISBN
9780374961336 .
^ Baum, Lyman Frank; Gardner, Martin; Nye, Russel Blaine (1994-12-01).
The Wizard of Oz and who he was . Michigan State University Press.
ISBN
9780870133664 .
^ Nye, Russel B.; Browne, Ray Broadus (1971-01-01).
Crises on campus . Bowling Green University Press.
ISBN
9780879720612 .
^ Nye, Russel B.; Garab, Arra M. (1971-01-01).
Modern Essays . Scott, Forsman and Company.
^ Waldmeir, Joseph J. (1978-01-01).
Essays in Honor of Russel B. Nye . Michigan State University Press.
ISBN
9780870132094 .
^ Hinds, Harold E.; Motz, Marilyn Ferris; Nelson, Angela M. S. (2006-01-01).
Popular Culture Theory and Methodology: A Basic Introduction . Popular Press.
ISBN
9780879728717 .
Sources
"Russel Nye, Historian, Dies at 80; A Student of Comics, Jazz and TV" New York Times , September 5, 1993
Herder, Dale (1994) "A Tribute to Russel B. Nye 1913 -- 1993"] MSU Alumni Magazine , Winter 1994
Brief Biography on the Wisconsin Library Association's web site
[1]
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