{"id":139,"date":"2013-10-21T03:03:14","date_gmt":"2013-10-21T03:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wsu.tonahangen.com\/fysfifties\/?page_id=139"},"modified":"2017-10-25T03:15:28","modified_gmt":"2017-10-25T03:15:28","slug":"unit-4","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wsu.tonahangen.com\/fysfifties\/unit-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Unit 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

Peyton Place and Levittown<\/h2>\n


The core of this unit is the bestselling novel of the 1950s, Peyton Place<\/em>, the first (and semi-autobiographical) novel by New Englander Grace Metalious. Not only did it spend nearly 60 weeks on the bestseller list, but it was also made into a feature film, with several sequels, and a long-running television soap opera. The storyline deals with the salacious personal secrets of small-town America – places which were losing population through most the decade. Metalious portrays thinly-disguised Gilmanton NH<\/a> as violent, abusive, stifling, inbred and oversexed. In contrast (or not?) we’ll also be talking about popular imagery of the new suburbs, and broad demographic and geographic changes in America during the 1950s. <\/p>\n

*Remember to keep a log of your reading for Peyton Place<\/em>. The form this takes can be up to you, but it needs to be turned in on Mon 10\/30. It can be a simple list of pages read on what dates, or something more developed, like chapter notes or a response journal, or whatever makes sense for you. <\/p>\n

Mon 10\/23<\/strong> Suburbs and Small Towns. Reading: Dunar Ch 6: 167-181 + Brier “Peyton Place” PDF<\/p>\n