Mary Climbs In
Mary Climbs In
The Journeys of Bruce Springsteen's Women Fans
Bruce Springsteen has been loved and cherished by his fans for decades, from his early days playing high school gymnasiums through globally successful albums and huge stadium shows to solo performances in intimate theaters. As his long and illustrious career has evolved, the legendary devotion of his fans has remained a constant. Springsteen fans have become worthy of study in their own right, with books, memoirs, and even a movie documenting their passion and perspectives. But his fans are not monolithic, and surprisingly little attention has been paid to why so many women from across the world adore The Boss.
Mary Climbs In illuminates this once overlooked but increasingly important and multi-faceted conversation about female audiences for Springsteen’s music. Drawing on unique surveys of fans themselves, the study offers insight into women’s experiences in their own voices. Authors Lorraine Mangione and Donna Luff explore the depth of women fans’ connection to Springsteen and the profound ways in which it has shaped their lives. Reflections from fans enliven each page as readers travel a journey through the camaraderie and joy of concerts, the sorrow and confusion of personal loss and suffering, the love and closeness of community, and the search for meaning and for the self. Viewed through a psychological lens, women fans’ relationship with Springsteen is revealed in all its complexity as never before. Mary Climbs In is an important interdisciplinary contribution to the growing field of Springsteen studies and a must read for any fan.
This project is an important interdisciplinary contribution to what is now a bona fide discourse of Springsteen studies. It takes a uniquely empirical approach to the subject, and illuminates a once overlooked, but now increasingly important and multi-faceted conversation about female audiences for Springsteen’s music.
Mary Climbs In offers an important entry in rock music scholarship. In addition to providing a contribution to the burgeoning arena of fan studies, Mangione and Luff afford readers with a vital window into the female experience vis-a`-vis rock ‘n’ roll.
Lorraine Mangione, Department of Clinical Psychology at Antioch University New England focuses on women and creativity and artistry, group therapy, spirituality and religion, aging, loss and grief, Italian American culture, and #MeToo. Published works include Daughters, Dads, and the Path through Grief, New Horizons Publisher, Springsteen’s work and psychology articles.
Donna Luff is a British-born writer and sociologist, an educator at Boston Children's Hospital and faculty at Harvard Medical School. She has published on gender, sexuality, and healthcare innovations, as well as personal essays, articles on Springsteen, and a prior chapter on Springsteen’s women fans.
Introduction: Why Springsteen and Women?
1. Women Fans of Bruce Springsteen: Why Listen to Them and What Might They Tell Us?
2. "The Ties That Bind": Becoming and Staying a Fan
3. “Hey, Little Girl”: Women on Springsteen and Women
4. Springsteen as Friend or Family Member
5. Teacher of Life, Guide of the Spirit
6. Walking the Path Together Through Darkness: Springsteen as Therapist
7. From New Jersey to the World: The Guy on the Boardwalk Becomes a Cultural Icon
8. Twenty-first Century Legacy: What Does the Gypsy See Now?
9. "Further On Up The Road"
Acknowledgements
Bibliography
Index
