Introduction: "Individuality in name only" -- Postwar teenagers and the attitude of authenticity -- From madness to the Prozac Americans -- "They didn't do it for thrills": serial killing and the problem of motive -- Assimilation, authenticity, and "natural Jewishness" -- "The man he almost is": performativity and the corporate narrative -- Conclusion: "Collage is the art form of the twentieth century."
Summary
"Real Phonies examines the twinned phenomena of phoniness and authenticity across the second half of the twentieth century - beginning with adolescents in the 1950s like Holly Golightly and Holden Caulfield, and ending with mid-career professionals in the 1990s, like sports agent Jerry Maguire. Countering the critical assumption that, with the emergence of postmodernity, the ideal of "authentic self" disappeared, Cheever argues that concern with the authenticity of persons proliferated throughout the past half-century despite a significant ambiguity over what that self might look like."--Jacket
