Ed Folsom – författare

Moving through Whitman's career four times from four different perspectives, this 1994 book investigates several major American cultural developments that occurred during Whitman's lifetime, the development of American dictionaries, the growth of baseball, the evolution of American Indian policy: the development of photography became essential components of Whitman's innovative poetics. Resisting the usual critical temptation to present a totalised, one-dimensional Whitman, this study views him instead as multiple and contradictory, a gatherer of discordant tones and clashing approaches from a variety of surprising cultural arenas. In such cultural activities, Whitman found not his poetic subject so much as his poetic tools and techniques. These cultural actions taught him how to make native representations.

This comprehensive volume celebrates the 150th anniversary of the 1855 edition of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass with twenty essays by preeminent scholars representing a variety of critical perspectives that focus exclusively on the original edition. Once regarded as primarily a collector's item, this edition is now viewed as the poet's most bold and compelling articulation of the possibilities of American democracy. The essays weave a rich tapestry of the most current, innovative criticism on this foundational book of American poetry. The contributors treat Whitman's poetry, his biography, his politics, his reception in the United States and abroad, race and ethnic issues, nineteenth-century America, and even the complex typographical history of the first edition of Leaves of Grass. The volume also includes a tribute from the renowned poet Galway Kinnell.

This introductory guide to Walt Whitman weaves together the writer’s life with an examination of his works. · An innovative introductory guide to Walt Whitman. · Weaves together the writer’s life with an examination of his works. · Focuses especially on Whitman’s evolving masterpiece Leaves of Grass. · Examines the material conditions and products of Whitman’s “scripted life”, including his original manuscripts. · Investigates Whitman’s “life in print” – his belief that he could literally embody himself in his books. · Linked to a large electronic archive of Whitman’s work at www.whitmanarchive.org

This introductory guide to Walt Whitman weaves together the writer’s life with an examination of his works.

· An innovative introductory guide to Walt Whitman.

· Weaves together the writer’s life with an examination of his works.

· Focuses especially on Whitman’s evolving masterpiece Leaves of Grass.

· Examines the material conditions and products of Whitman’s “scripted life”, including his original manuscripts.

· Investigates Whitman’s “life in print” – his belief that he could literally embody himself in his books.

· Linked to a large electronic archive of Whitman’s work at www.whitmanarchive.org