Why read Watching Dallas?

Book cover of Watching Dallas: Soap Opera and the Melodramatic Imagination

Book description

Dallas, one of the great internationally-screened soap operas, offers us first and foremost entertainment. But what is it about Dallas that makes that entertainment so successful, and how exactly is its entertainment constructed?

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Why read it?

1 author picked Watching Dallas as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Daniel Silliman

Author

I’m cheating a little here, but I made the rules and there’s a little clause in the rules I made that says I can break them as long as I announce that I am breaking them. Herewith, I announce.

This isn’t a book about readers. It’s a book about watchers—specifically the Dutch audience for the soap opera Dallas. But this book is so good and so wild, it changed forever the way I think about “reception,” including reading. I recommend this book all the time and if you want to understand the freedom and creativity of readers, you have to…

From Daniel's list on The best books for reading about reading.