Stuart Hutchinson – författare

The American Scene considers major texts of nineteenth century American literature: The Leatherstocking Tales, Poe''s fiction, The Scarlet Letter, Moby-Dick, Leaves of Grass, Dickinson''s poetry, Huckleberry Finn, James''s The American Scene. It sees these works as attempts to articulate relationships between the self and the New World. The indeterminacy of the relationships is expressed in the formal instability of the works themselves. In these respects, nineteenth century American literature is shown to offer a striking contrast to comparable English literature.

The American Scene considers major texts of nineteenth century American literature: The Leatherstocking Tales, Poe's fiction, The Scarlet Letter, Moby-Dick, Leaves of Grass, Dickinson's poetry, Huckleberry Finn, James's The American Scene. It sees these works as attempts to articulate relationships between the self and the New World. The indeterminacy of the relationships is expressed in the formal instability of the works themselves. In these respects, nineteenth century American literature is shown to offer a striking contrast to comparable English literature.

This book explores Twain's major writings as they address the New World and the Old, race, slavery, imperialism, the possibility of American literary form and the limits of humour. Twain's humour is an expression of the pleasure and fun of life, but it is also a response to ultimate contradictions and losses. It is particularly American in that it rarely points to harmonies that might actually be enjoyed beyond itself. It is the humour of someone always on the move if not on the run. The absence of any destination in Twain, other than the ultimate one of death, is why his work is so formally unsettled. There is no point of clarification where author, narrator and readers can be expected to arrive together. Texts treated in this book include The Innocents Abroad, Roughing It, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Life on the Mississippi, The Gilded Age, A Connecticut Yankee, Pudd'nhead Wilson, Following the Equator, The Mysterious Stranger, and several short pieces.