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The Satirical Newspaper the Onion Once Ran a Story with the Headline

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Essay

The satirical newspaper The Onion once ran a story with the headline "Man Reading Pynchon on Bus Takes Pains to Make Cover Visible." The story went on to describe a bus passenger who was reading a book by the critically acclaimed, but difficult and confusing, author Thomas Pynchon. Instead of holding the book on his lap, he held it directly in front of his face so that the cover was visible to everyone and occasionally glanced around to see if anyone noticed. What would Erving Goffman say about this?


Definitions:

Nuremberg Trials

A series of military tribunals held after World War II to prosecute prominent leaders of Nazi Germany for war crimes.

Crimes Against Humanity

Serious violations of human rights that are committed as part of a wide or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.

Henry Luce

An influential American magazine publisher who founded Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated, significantly shaping American media and public opinion in the 20th century.

Essence

The intrinsic nature or indispensable quality of something, especially something abstract, that determines its character or identity.

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