Brainwashing
Subtitle: the fictions of mind control : a study of novels and films since World War II
By: David Seed.
Publisher: Kent State University Press
Published: 2004
Place of publication: Kent, Ohio
Language: eng
Number of pages: 325
Subjects: English fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism.; Brainwashing in literature.; American fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism.; Literature and science -- English-speaking countries.; World War, 1939-1945 -- Literature and the war.; World War, 1939-1945 -- Influence.; Brainwashing in motion pictures.; Alien abduction in literature.; Conspiracies in literature.
Description: "David Seed traces the assimilation of the notion of brainwashing into science fiction, political commentary, and conspiracy narratives of the Cold War era. He demonstrates how these works grew out of a context of political and social events and how they express the anxieties of the time." "This study reviews 1950s science fiction, Korean War fiction, and the film The Manchurian Candidate. Seed provides new interpretations of writers such as Orwell and Burroughs within the history of psychological manipulation for political purposes, using declassified and other documents to contextualize the material. He explores the shifting viewpoints of how brainwashing is represented, changing from an external threat to American values to an internal threat against individual American liberties by the U.S. government."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 294-316) and index.