From Clinton to Bush, Literacy to War: The Political Contexts of Oprah's Book Club

摘要

"I want to get the whole country reading again."-Oprah Winfrey, September 17, 1996 "I wanted to get America reading again, and, whoo, did you get with the program." -Oprah Winfrey, October 18, 1996' Academic work on Oprah s Book Club (OBC) is rapidly proliferating, especially in relation to the first chapter (1996-2002), but in the early years, before the book club had become a cultural institution, journalists provided the first layer of cultural critique. One of the recurring-and ultimately least productive-debates in the media focused on the commercial versus the literary value of the book club: yes, Oprah sold books, but were they good books? Another variation was the literature versus literacy argument: yes, she might be encouraging the masses (women, of course) to read, but they're not educated, independent thinkers. OBC defenders focused on the value of promoting literacy, even if they themselves wouldn't read the books; OBC critics, claiming a high moral authority, dismissed the books and the readers.2 A more interesting line of investigation for me has been the ways in which Oprah Winfrey, through the book club, engages in American cultural politics and negotiates national policies. This paper sketches two political contexts that help position the cultural work of Oprah s Book Club.