Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Joni Mitchell: New Critical Readings recognizes the cultural importance and innovations of the musician and artist Joni Mitchell and the need for a collection that theorizes her work as musician and composer, cultural commentator and antagonist. It showcases work by leading academics from the fields of popular music and culture on subjects as varied as Mitchell's environmentalism, the politics of aging in her work, and her often fraught relationship with feminism.
The collection provides a range of entry points into thinking about Mitchell's work that will appeal to the long-time fan, the connoisseur, and the new listener. It approaches Mitchell's oeuvre through 3 key themes: politics and culture, affect, and form. Each themed section features essays by leading scholars from the fields of literary, cultural, and music studies. Their work is wide-ranging and responds to the entirety of Mitchell's corpus through a combination of focused readings of particular songs, albums, performances, and moments, alongside a keen attention to Mitchell's wider cultural contribution and significance.