cover image American Mythologies

American Mythologies

Marshall Blonsky. Oxford University Press, USA, $35 (560pp) ISBN 978-0-19-505062-2

Wielding semiotic theory like a scalpel, Blonsky removes the European filter from the study of signs and slyly decodes America's multitudinous myths. He deciphers the name ok? Pepsi (``signifying nothing at all''), the Marlboro Man, Vanna White (``a version of Venus''), John Gotti, pornography and McDonald's. His dense, convoluted first-person narrative winds from the underground hell of New York City's subways to the glitzy ethereal realm of Hollywood game shows. Along the way he interviews Ted Koppel (``A television priest . . . principled and self-effacing''), Helmut Newton, Pat Robertson, Umberto Eco and Merv Griffin. Blonsky, who teaches semiotics at Manhattan's New School for Social Research, discusses horror with Stephen King in Maine, fashion with Giorgio Armani in Milan and American culture with Yevgeny Yevtushenko near Moscow. His contextual readings generate more sparks than light. Illustrated. (Oct.)