BOOK REVIEW

Stanley Cavell’s American Dream: Shakespeare, Philosophy, and Holly-

wood Movies. Lawrence F. Rhu. New York: Fordham University Press,
2006. Pp. xviiiþ248.

Unlike books on Stanley Cavell that have organized the subjects of his
work into separate chapters, Lawrence F. Rhu’s Stanley Cavell’s American
Dream: Shakespeare, Philosophy, and Hollywood Movies provides intellec-
tually stimulating paths of summary analysis, and original applications
of Cavell’s thinking, that illuminate the convergent alignments of sub-
jects and the philosophical dynamics that have engaged Cavell through-
out his writings. In his foreword to Rhu’s book, Cavell expresses grati-
tude for Rhu’s ‘‘remarkable effort to venture a different course’’ (xv),
and he credits the success of this effort: ‘‘Rhu’s sympathetic intelligence
and his body of learning seem to me to introduce expansions or exten-
sions of my texts of a most welcome kind, ones that lead him to further,
surprising thoughts of his own, compliments to us both’’ (xvi).
The erudition required for Rhu’s successful integration of Cavell’s
insights unavoidably mirrors a problem—and a possibility—that are
intrinsic to Cavell’s writing: the challenge of making his observations ac-
cessible to readers whose areas of expertise coincide with some of the
subjects addressed by Cavell, but whose concentrations in their special-
ties may hinder their responses to the crosscurrents or impingements
of Cavell’s more capacious configurations. Rhu’s disclosure of his
reflections on ‘‘the cycles of lost-ness and recovery that have moved me
to think and write about Stanley Cavell’’ (xi) reveals a commitment and
preparedness to fulfill the task he has undertaken: to convey ‘‘moments
of convergence where traditionally disparate elements—such as Shake-

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