Visions of the American Dream

F. Scott Fitzgerald, Bob Dylan, and Norman Mailer Probe at the Heart of the National Idea

Authors

  • Bob Batchelor Thiel College Author

Keywords:

American Dream, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Bob Dylan, An American Dream, antihero narrative, postwar American culture, popular culture and literature

Abstract

An examination of the American Dream from an interdisciplinary perspective, drawing on the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Bob Dylan, and Norman Mailer. Analyzing the intersections of literature and music in appraising our national ethos, the essay offers a new way of thinking about the concept in the 1960s and how these notions changed since Fitzgerald’s era. Collectively and individually, these artists confront a nation that thrives on the ideas at the heart of the American Dream, but actually exist in a much darker place that is full of ambiguity and bedlam.

Author Biography

  • Bob Batchelor, Thiel College

    Bob Batchelor is James Pedas Professor of Communication and Executive Director of the James Pedas Communication Center at Thiel College. A noted cultural historian and biographer, Bob is the author or editor of 24 books, including John Updike: A Critical Biography and Gatsby: A Cultural History of the Great American Novel. He is a member of the editorial advisory boards of The Journal of Popular Culture and the International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning and is Director of Marketing & Media for The John Updike Childhood Home Museum in Reading, PA.

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Published

2026-10-09

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 1 (2013): A Double Life • Mind of an Outlaw

Section

Articles