Edna Ferber's Hollywood
American Fictions of Gender, Race, and History
Reeks: Texas Film and Media Studies Series
J. E. Smyth
- Edna
- Ferber’s
- Hollywood
- reveals
- one
- of
- the
- most
- influential
- artistic
- relationships
- of
- the
- twentieth
- century—the
- four-decade
- partnership
- between
- historical
- novelist
- Edna
- Ferber
- and
- the
- Hollywood
- studios.
- Ferber
- was
- one
- of
- America’s
- most
- controversial
- popular
- historians,
- a
- writer
- whose
- uniquely
- feminist,
- multiracial
- view
- of
- the
- national
- past
- deliberately
- clashed
- with
- traditional
- narratives
- of
- white
- masculine
- power.
- Hollywood
- paid
- premium
- sums
- to
- adapt
- her
- novels,
- creating
- some
- of
- the
- most
- memorable
- films
- of
- the
- studio
- era—among
- them
- Show
- Boat,
- Cimarron,
- and
- Giant.
- Her
- historical
- fiction
- resonated
- with
- Hollywood’s
- interest
- in
- prestigious
- historical
- filmmaking
- aimed
- principally,
- but
- not
- exclusively,
- at
- female
- audiences.
- In
- Edna
- Ferber’s
- Hollywood,
- J.
- E.
- Smyth
- explores
- the
- research,
- writing,
- marketing,
- reception,
- and
- production
- histories
- of
- Hollywood’s
- Ferber
- franchise.
- Smyth
- tracks
- Ferber’s
- working
- relationships
- with
- Samuel
- Goldwyn,
- Leland
- Hayward,
- George
- Stevens,
- and
- James
- Dean;
- her
- landmark
- contract
- negotiations
- with
- Warner
- Bros.;
- and
- the
- controversies
- surrounding
- Giant’s
- critique
- of
- Jim-Crow
- Texas.
- But
- Edna
- Ferber’s
- Hollywood
- is
- also
- the
- study
- of
- the
- historical
- vision
- of
- an
- American
- outsider—a
- woman,
- a
- Jew,
- a
- novelist
- with
- few
- literary
- pretensions,
- an
- unashamed
- middlebrow
- who
- challenged
- the
- prescribed
- boundaries
- among
- gender,
- race,
- history,
- and
- fiction.
- In
- a
- masterful
- film
- and
- literary
- history,
- Smyth
- explores
- how
- Ferber’s
- work
- helped
- shape
- Hollywood’s
- attitude
- toward
- the
- American past.
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