With regard to his four decades as a Springsteen fan, Pethes knows he\u2019s not special. But the magic of Springsteen is that he makes his fans feel that they are and, often, that he has altered their lives. How does Springsteen do this? Pethes, a literature professor at the University of Cologne, thinks he has the answer: \u201cThe impression of communication between Springsteen and his audience arises because both sides attribute to the other a desire for such an exchange and act accordingly.\u201d OK, that isn\u2019t something the reader can dance to. Here\u2019s Springsteen\u2019s answer, from 2012: \u201cI\u2019m in the midst of a lifetime conversation with my audience.\u201d Pethes has identified and dedicated a chapter to each of six \u201ccommunicative aspects\u201d of Springsteen\u2019s artistry; some include his musical influences, his rapport with his audience, and his storytelling gifts. Although Pethes doesn\u2019t put it this way, his book suggests that, while many artists can claim one or more of those aspects\u2014the Grateful Dead\u2019s audience was likewise devoted; Taylor Swift\u2019s acolytes, too, hear their stories in her lyrics\u2014Springsteen uniquely embodies all these qualities at once. While this book will, of course, hold special interest for Springsteen fans, it may also speak to anyone who is anthropologically curious about the enduring allure of a public figure. Since the author is an academic, the reader can expect references to things like \u201cparasocial relationships,\u201d \u201cconstructivist communication theories,\u201d and \u201cparadoxical simultaneity,\u201d but Pethes also includes, tone-shiftingly, snippets from his own \u201cfan biography,\u201d which finds him carrying out research by attending scads of Springsteen concerts. (Nice work if you can get it.)<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With regard to his four decades as a Springsteen fan, Pethes knows he\u2019s not special. But the magic of Springsteen is that he makes his fans feel that they are and, often, that he has altered their lives. How does Springsteen do this? Pethes, a literature professor at the University of Cologne, thinks he has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6446"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}