Pursuits of Happiness

“The great achievement of…Pursuits of Happiness is that it finally provides a solid framework for the serious discussion of the great dialogue comedies of the thirties and forties, perhaps the most revived and loved movies of Hollywood’s golden period.”—Al LaValley, American Film

“No book about the art of Hollywood I have ever read can make its readers stop and think more effectively than this one.”—S. S. Prawer, The Times Literary Supplement

“This just must be, in its close readings and its stunning associations, one of the most compelling accounts of its kind. The fact is, it just is its kind.”—Geoffrey Hawthorn, London Review of Books

“This is a voice like no other in philosophy, today or ever.”—Arthur C. Danto, October

“Stanley Cavell’s book succeeds brilliantly… The individual ‘readings’ of the films and the general conceptual plan in which they are embedded are both so rich and rewarding that…‘brilliant’…seems an understatement.”—Gerald Mast, Journal of Aesthetic Education