RT Journal Article
T1 The American Television Hero as a Novelist of Himself : Language as «Tópos» in Matthew Weiner’s «Mad Men»
A1 Amezcua Gómez, David
AB This article tackles the manifestations of American literary themes in Matthew Weiner’s “Mad Men”. I contend that the transmedial alignment of TV series and literature heightens our understanding of fundamental myths of American exceptionalism. This paper studies the role of language at script level as a site or “tópos” where the protagonist’s constant reinvention occurs. Moreover, it provides an interdiscursive analysis of Frank O’Hara’s “Mayakovsky” and John Cheever’s “The Swimmer” to show their thematic connection, which is the transition from old to new life. This theme possesses an axiomatic role in the genesis of this show, suggesting a tight intermedial relationship between the show’s scripts and the two literary works I will analyze. On the basis of my analysis, I suggest that reading this TV series as literature is possible if we consider both the show’s thematic connection with American literary themes and its multiple literary references.
PB Universidad de Murcia
SN 1578-7044
YR 2025
FD 2025
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/122407
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/122407
LA eng
NO Amezcua, David. «The American Television Hero as a Novelist of Himself : Language as "Tópos" in Matthew Weiner’s "Mad Men"». International Journal of English Studies, vol. 25, n.o 1, 2025, pp. 203-18. revistas.um.es, https://doi.org/10.6018/ijes.615291.
NO This  paper  is  the  result  of  the  research  project “Transferences in literature and discourse. Poetics, Rhetoric  and  Comparative  Perspectives.  Theoretical  construction  of  a  Transferential  Critique”. Reference: PID2023-148361NB-I00, funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation ofSpain and the European  Union.
NO Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España)
DS Docta Complutense
RD 15 sept 2025