Overview
He didn't write music or lyrics and wasn't too articulate on the subject of himself, but when he created his dream house Elvis Presley spoke volumes about who he was. From the musical notes that dance across the gates to the soaring columns of the neo-Southern manse, from the glittering stairwells to the jungle rec room to the plush-lined bathroom suite where he died, the colors and textures and shapes of Graceland speak eloquently for the boy from Tupelo who became the King of Rock 'n' Roll. What the mansion says of Elvis, and what it says to - and of - the millions of fans who make the journey there each year, is what Graceland: Going Home with Elvis is about. This conversation is what tourism is about, and so Graceland speaks of tourism as well of the author's forays into an alien South, its rhythms, its history, and of Elvis as the ultimate tourist, the musician on the road, ever in transit between home and the one-night stand. Reconstructing the changing interior of Graceland during its owner's lifetime, the book describes the cultural geography of Elvisness - his self-created material world - and of American mobility in the postwar era.Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
Elvis Presley and his parents, Vernon and Gladys, as Jesus, Joseph and Mary? Their move from Tupelo, Miss., to Memphis in 1948 as the Israelites' flight from Egypt? If you can swallow such comparisons, you're ready to accompany Marling on this herky-jerky trip along the same roads the one and only King traveled during his lifetime. Readers are thrown head-first into creaky motel rooms with only one working light bulb, the makeshift Hollywood mansion of Presley's B-movie career, Las Vegas showroom stages and, of course, Graceland itself. Readers not only experience the American landscape as Presley didthey get a sense of the other influences of the time. Reading this book means meeting William Faulkner, eating moon pies and catfish with cornmeal crust and going backstage at Elvis's awkward wedding to Priscilla. In the process, one comes to understand how the nation grew up with the King, and then grew away from him. Marling obviously poured extensive research into her book. Her riffs and rants have a fun, freewheeling bent, creating cultural linkages that make perfect sense in some moments while at other times they appear as ways to mention as many American icons as possible in a few sentences. Still, being flung across miles of American tarmac and into the shotgun shacks and juke joints of the Deep South may be best done with a guide. Take this with a soupon of skepticism, a good road map and a packet of Tums. Illustrations. (Aug.)Library Journal
Supernatural phenomena notwithstanding, the King is alive and well in ads, music, jokes, look-alike contests, greeting cards, memorabilia, plays, the Graceland mansion, and hundreds of other ways. Why is the public still so fascinated with everything Elvis? "For a dead man, Elvis Presley is awfully noisy," quips Rodman (communication, Univ. of South Florida) in the opening of his in-depth dissection of prevailing Elvis mythsboth rational and seemingly otherwise. He analyzes the place of these myths in relation to American culture, and he carefully reviews "Elvis space" (the Tupelo birthplace and the Graceland mansion) as important representations of the man, the myths, and America. With painstaking thoroughness, Rodman explores how Elvis defined new popular cultural parameters during a time when America was in rapid transitionhelping to give rise to the legend that still lives on. This is not casual reading; but, for those with the time and the inclination, it can reward one with solid information as well as unique food for thought. Graceland is a bit more easily navigable. Marling (art history and American studies, Univ. of Minnesota) takes us on a trip to the geographical places inhabited, visited, and created by the King during the course of his rags-to-riches odysseyTupelo, Memphis, Nashville, Hollywood, and, ultimately, Graceland. The sounds, smells, look, and feel of each of these localesthen and noware beautifully evoked, and other symbols of the South, such as Faulkner, are blended into the story. Occasional boxed gems (e.g., "the custom of visiting birthplaces") are interspersed throughout. Through "place," we experience and come to terms with the atmosphere and the influences that shaped Elvis personally and professionally and gave rise to his legendary mystique. Marling is a superb writera raconteur, keen observer, poignant historian, casual analyst, and friend. Graceland belongs in circulating libraries with large entertainment collections; Rodman's book is better suited to academic collections.Carol J. Binkowski, Bloomfield, N.J.Kirkus Reviews
This cultural history of Elvis's interiors is intended as high-concept but reads like a hastily researched brochure from a generalized Presley museum.In tones of not-quite-believable enthusiasm, Marling (Art History and American Studies/Univ. of Minnesota; As Seen on TV, 1994, etc.) attempts to humanize Presley by concentrating on the physical spaces he inhabited, as well as describing the larger areas he frequented (Oxford, Miss., Memphis, Las Vegas). The concept isn't altogether bad—but Marling fails to come up with a fresh take. Consistently she loses her grip and slides into the most basic biographical territory: "Sun Studios is the stuff of legends"; "He appealed to some primitive streak in the young." She's at her best when describing Graceland as nearly pure metaphor—as a vision of the old South whose precedent was Tara Mansion in the movie version of Gone With the Wind. Some of the room-by-room exegeses of Graceland are diverting, too. But the lack of effort shines through. Ever wonder why Elvis wanted a jungle motif for his living room? She points out the well-known fact that he loved Hawaiian kitsch, and the less well known fact that one of his record producers had his office done that way—but beyond that, your guess is as good as hers. "Of course," she rambles, "when everything is said that can be said to account for the den at Graceland, there is also the possibility that Elvis Presley had terrible taste, or that Elvis chic occupies an aesthetic dimension in which conventional standards of good taste are irrelevant."
Too obvious to qualify as cultural studies, too blandly written for a Wayne Koestenbaum-esque personal-interaction-with-subject book. Peter Guralnick's biography remains the standard for those who want to understand the King.