New Books In Literary Studies

The concept sounds simple: Maris Kreizman‘s Slaughterhouse 90210: Where Great Books Meet Pop Culture (Flatiron Books, 2015), based on her popular Tumblr, pairs up classic celebrity and television images with relevant quotes from literature. But the blend of high and low culture makes for a delightful and insightful read. Here is where Kurt Vonnegut meets Brenda Walsh, summing up life in the 90210 zip code via one of his most iconic “Slaughterhouse-Five” lines. Where a Joan Didion essay written decades before Taylor Swift was ever born sings out new insight into the pop star’s famously personal lyrics. And where a Joseph Heller quote from “Catch-22” sums up Donald Trump quite nicely, political ambitions and all. Kreizman, a former book editor and current publishing-outreach lead at Kickstarter, joins fellow pop-culture junkie Gael Fashingbauer Cooper for a gleeful troop through the book, discussing favorite quote-photo pairings and why they work so well. Kreizman also shares