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In response to Cyrus’s injunction to “Ask Bryan” what the hell “Rhinestone Cowboy” would have to do with our overview to a course on New York lit, I’ll offer this link, which takes you to a version of what I said this morning in my part of our opening lecture. The bit on “Rhinestone Cowboy” comes at the end, and I’d just add here what one of our students mentioned after class: that Campbell’s persona isn’t even a Rhinestone Cowboy, at least not yet: he’s just feeling like one, which is even a little sadder than the song was already.

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