The Construction and Dynamics of Cultural Icons

Departing from the present need for cultural models within the public debate, this volume offers a new contribution to the study of cultural icons. From the traditional religious icon to the modern mass media icon, from the recognizable visual icon to the complex entanglement of image and collective narratives: The Construction and Dynamics of Cultural Icons offers an overview of existing theories, compares different definitions and proposes a comprehensive view on the icon and the iconic. Focusing in particular on the making of iconic representations and their changing social-cultural meanings through time, scholars from cultural memory studies, art history and literary studies present concrete operationalizations of the ways different types of cultural icons can be studied.

Erica van Boven is emeritus Professor of Literature at the Open University (the Netherlands) and Associate Professor of Modern Dutch Literature at Groningen University. Her research focuses on Dutch literature and literary criticism of the interwar period, middlebrow culture, and gender studies. Marieke Winkler is Assistant Professor of Literary Studies at the Cultural Studies department of the Open University (the Netherlands). Her current research focusses on the interactions between science and literature, and the (literary) construction of images of the future and past.

Introduction: The Construction and Dynamics of Cultural Icons (Erica van Boven and Marieke Winkler), I. People, The Iconization and Mythologization of Byron's Life and Work in Nineteenth-Century Netherlands and Europe (Jan Oosterholt), Lenin as Cultural Icon (Maria Brock), Brigitte Bardot: The Making, Recycling and Afterlife of an Icon (Ginette Vincendeau), II. Places, The Renaissance at a Glance: The Panoramic View of Florence (Paul van den Akker), Iconic City Thrillers: Encoding Geopolitics Through Cinema (Rui Lopes), City Branding: Historical Culture and the Making of 'Hanzestad Zwolle' (Frank Inklaar), III. Objects, National Treasure Tea Bowls as Cultural Icons in Modern Japan (Meghen Jones), What to Lea(f) In, What to Lea(f) Out: Pedagogical Opportunities of a Cultural Icon - Anne Frank's Chestnut Tree (Kirsten E. Kumpf Baele), Exploring the Iconic in History Museums (Pieter de Bruijn), Hitler Goes Pop: Reflections on Media Representations and Collective Memory (Yvonne Delhey), Index.