The American Novel – serie

The American (1877) was written the very year Henry James committed himself to making his way as an author outside America. It thus formed part of the brief that James had to draw up both for and against his countrymen. This 1987 collection of essays casts light on this and other major aspects of the novel: the French literary influences on James as he gravitated between the genres of the romantic and the realistic novel; the many-layered French political scene that he incorporated into the novel; the complex gender roles of his characters; and the pervasive effect of capitalism upon them.

Light in August (1932) is one of William Faulkner's most important, most challenging, and most widely studied novels, demanding to be approached from many angles and with a variety of critical and scholarly skills. Here five distinguished critics offer just such a range of approaches, discussing the novel in terms of its composition and its place in Faulkner's oeuvre; its structure and narrative techniques; its relation to the religious, racial, and sexual assumptions of the society it depicts; its presentation of women and handling of gender-related issues; and the social and moral implications of the 'hero' status accorded to a figure like Joe Christmas. Each contributor has had a double ambition: to write clearly and directly, thus making the volume accessible to the widest possible audience, and to write freshly and originally, so as to enhance - even for those thoroughly familiar with the existing criticism - understanding and appreciation of Light in August itself and of Faulkner's work as a whole.

Light in August (1932) is one of William Faulkner's most important, most challenging, and most widely studied novels, demanding to be approached from many angles and with a variety of critical and scholarly skills. Here five distinguished critics offer just such a range of approaches, discussing the novel in terms of its composition and its place in Faulkner's oeuvre; its structure and narrative techniques; its relation to the religious, racial, and sexual assumptions of the society it depicts; its presentation of women and handling of gender-related issues; and the social and moral implications of the 'hero' status accorded to a figure like Joe Christmas. Each contributor has had a double ambition: to write clearly and directly, thus making the volume accessible to the widest possible audience, and to write freshly and originally, so as to enhance - even for those thoroughly familiar with the existing criticism - understanding and appreciation of Light in August itself and of Faulkner's work as a whole.

Published less than fifty years ago, Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man shares with older classic works the odd quality of seeming to have been in place much longer. It is a novel that encompasses much of the American scene and character: though told by a single Afro-American voice and set in the contemporary South and then in modern New York City, its references are to the First World War, to Reconstruction, to the Civil War and slavery, to the founding of the American republic, to Columbus, and to the country's frontier past. In his introduction to this volume Robert O'Meally discusses Ellison's fictional strategies for reaching a wide audience while remaining true to his own artistic vision and voice. Then each of five critical essays explores a different aspect of this capacious novel. One looks at the novel's protagonist as an embattled artist-in-training: another focuses on the novel's political and philosophical backgrounds; a third discusses the style and meaning of the nameless narrator's speeches; a fourth examines the novel's modernism in light of its references to jazz and anthropology: and the final essay considers Invisible Man as a kind of war novel. Written in an accessible style, these essays represent the best of recent scholarship and provide students with a useful introduction to this major novel.

When The Awakening was first published in 1899 it was an extraordinarily controversial book. One of the first American novels to concern itself with themes of adultery and divorce, it was widely attacked as 'vulgar' and 'unhealthy'. In her introduction to this collection, Wendy Martin discusses the historical background of the novel and analyses the heroine's evolution from a role of traditional femininity to one of autonomous individualism. The essays that follow explore other central themes of the novel, as well as locating Chopin in the tradition of American women novelists and discussing her status as a pre-modernist writer.

The American (1877) was written the very year Henry James committed himself to making his way as an author outside America. It thus formed part of the brief that James had to draw up both for and against his countrymen. This 1987 collection of essays casts light on this and other major aspects of the novel: the French literary influences on James as he gravitated between the genres of the romantic and the realistic novel; the many-layered French political scene that he incorporated into the novel; the complex gender roles of his characters; and the pervasive effect of capitalism upon them.

First published in 1895, The Red Badge of Courage found immediate success and brought its author immediate fame. In his introduction to this volume, Lee Clark Mitchell discusses how Crane broke with the conventions of both fiction and journalism to create a uniquely 'disruptive' prose style. The five essays that follow each explore different aspects of the novel. One studies the problem of establishing the authentic text; another examines it as a war novel; a third considers it as a critique of the rising mood of militant imperialism in the 1890s; a fourth focuses on the double perspective of the novel - its shift between the hero's perspective and a larger, 'cosmic' one; and the final essay examines the novel's deconstruction of courage/cowardice. Written in a highly accessible style, these essays represent the best of recent scholarship and provide students with a useful introduction to this major novel.

Increased interest in the role of women and minorities in establishing the canon of American literature has led to renewed interest in Uncle Tom's Cabin. The essays in this volume set out to provide contemporary readers with a critical and historical interpretation of the novel that reflects the best of recent scholarship. In his introduction Eric J. Sundquist attempts to show that Uncle Tom's Cabin boldly takes issue with both proslavery arguments and prevailing prejudices among abolitionists, employing the forms of popular melodrama and heated rhetoric to carry its complex argument. The individual essays examine the influence of Stowe's novel on the characterization of women in the American novel and on later women writers, the role of women in the antislavery movement, the literary exchanges between Stowe and her contemporaries; Uncle Tom's Cabin and the tradition of the Gothic novel, and the characterizations of blacks in this novel and in later works.

The Sun Also Rises (1926) was Hemingway's first novel and is widely considered to be the most important of his longer works of fiction. Written in an accessible style by prominent scholars, this collection of essays provides helpful and valuable insight for general readers and Hemingway specialists alike. Each essay is devoted to a major aspect of the novel: Hemingway's use of humor, the literary and historical context of the book, the atypically prevalent character of Brett Ashley, and topical approaches to issues of sexuality in the novel.

The American Novel series provides students of American literature with introductory critical guides to the great works of American fiction by giving details of the novel's composition, publication history and contemporary reception. The group of essays, each specially commissioned from a leading scholar in the field, examines the interpretative methods and prominent ideas on the text. There are also helpful guides to further reading. Specifically designed for undergraduates, the series will be a powerful resource for anyone engaged in the critical analysis of major American novels. This collection of essays on Moby-Dick reconnects Melville's great work with concerns that are central to readers in critical studies. Richard Brodhead introduces the volume with a discussion of the book's unique place in the canon of American literature. He then recounts the novel's history from its mixed reception in the mid-nineteenth century to its prevalent status as a classic. The five essays that follow focus on various aspects of the novel: its vision of nature, its drama of social alienation, its religious defiance, and its splendid variety of language.

The essays in this volume represent a wide range of approaches to one of the most popular of all American novels. Michael Bell re-examines the crucial issue of romanticism versus realism in the book. Janet McKay discusses the linguistic subtleties of the novel, showing the social implications inherent in Twain's brilliant use of the vernacular. Lee Mitchell draws on post-structuralist theories to question Huck's own assumption that words themselves can represent the social world. Steven Mailloux combines sociopolitical perspectives and the methods of contemporary 'reader-response' analysis to identify how humour is generated in Huckleberry Finn and to enrich our understanding of the novel's topical impact.

The introduction to this volume charts the fortunes of The Great Gatsby from its mixed reception and disappointing sales on publication in 1925, through its increasing popularity in the 1940s, to its critical and popular elevation from the standing of an important 'period piece' to that of an undisputed classic of American literature. Of the five essays that follow, one traces this revival in greater detail, and another sets the book in the context of the perennial quest for the 'great American novel'. Two other essays examine the central from the perspective of a practising contemporary novelist.

The introduction to this volume outlines the critical history of the novel from the moralising reactions of Hawthorne's contemporaries, through the assessments of writers such as Henry James and D. H. Lawrence, to the more recent approaches of the New Criticism, formalism, psychoanalytical criticism, structuralism and feminism. Each of the interpretative essays that follow places The Scarlet Letter in a specific historical and cultural context. The first shows that an awareness of the convention of romance is essential to an understanding of the novel. A second investigates the tension between Hawthorne's Puritan setting and his Romantic language, suggesting a complex relationship among author, narrator, characters, and story. A third considers the novel's pervasive metaphor of sexuality. The final essay locates the work in the genre of 'the novel of adultery'.

The Portrait of a Lady is arguably Henry James's most appealing and accessible novel. The introduction to this volume of specially written essays, first published in 1990, situates the novel in its cultural and historical context: its treatment of a modern woman 'affronting' her destiny, its relation to the contemporary controversy over 'morality' in fiction, its use of an Italian setting, and its late nineteenth century elegiac mood. It also discusses James's revisions of the novel and his late Preface. The essays that follow deal with the place of Portrait in the tradition of modern narrative, its relation to popular women's fiction on the question of marriage, the influence of James's 'family romance' and his brother William, and the character of Isabel Archer seen from a psychoanalytic point of view.

The Portrait of a Lady is arguably Henry James's most appealing and accessible novel. The introduction to this volume of specially written essays, first published in 1990, situates the novel in its cultural and historical context: its treatment of a modern woman 'affronting' her destiny, its relation to the contemporary controversy over 'morality' in fiction, its use of an Italian setting, and its late nineteenth century elegiac mood. It also discusses James's revisions of the novel and his late Preface. The essays that follow deal with the place of Portrait in the tradition of modern narrative, its relation to popular women's fiction on the question of marriage, the influence of James's 'family romance' and his brother William, and the character of Isabel Archer seen from a psychoanalytic point of view.

New Essays on Native Son provides original insights into this major American novel by Richard Wright. After an introductory essay by the editor on the conception, composition, and reception of the novel, four leading Afro-Americanists examine various aspects of this classic fictional account of violent life and death in a racist society. John M. Reilly shows how carefully Wright utilises narrative techniques to subvert conventional American racial discourse and to establish the authority and authenticity of the protagonist's voice. Trudier Harris explores some of the social ironies involved in the novel's unfavourable presentation of female characters. Houston A. Baker Jr, focuses precisely on the concept of place in a new historicists treatment of black male and female roles in Native Son against Wright's own interpretation of Afro-American history in 12 Million Black Voices. Finally, Craig Werner convincingly relates Native Son to modernism as a literary movement. Moving beyond the old debate between protest and art, these essays, informed by new critical theory and perspectives, reveal previously unsuspected depth, complexity, and resonance in Wright's vision of black life and his literary resources in expressing it.

Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth captured the attention of a large portion of the reading public when it was published in a serial version in Scribner's for most of 1905 and then as a hardback in October of that year. Wharton's story of Lily Bart, a 'social parasite', according to reviewer Edmund Wilson, 'on the fringes of the very rich', topped the American bestseller list for four months. Furthermore, the novel sealed the author's reputation as one of the major English-language fiction writers of her generation. Each of the four articles collected in this New Essays volume, first published in 2001, makes distinctive claims for the historical, critical, and theoretical significance of Wharton's seminal work.

The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885) established William Dean Howells's reputation in the annals of American literature. This collection of essays, first published in 1991, argues the renewed importance of Howells's novel for an understanding of literature as a social force as well as a literary form. In his introduction Donald Pease recounts the fall and rise of the novel's value in literary history, outlines the various critical responses to Silas Lapham, and restores the novel to its social context. The essays that follow expand on this theme, challenging the accepted views of literary critics by explicating narrative methods and the genre of literary realism. Focusing much of its attention on economics of morality, manners, and pain, as well as the marketplace, the volume as a whole argues that a relationship exists between Howells's realism and its socioeconomic context.

The Last of the Mohicans is the most widely read and internationally acclaimed of James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking tales, and has traditionally been regarded as an exciting and well-made adventure story. In recent years, however, critics have found in this classic tale of colonial warfare deeper levels of meaning. In the introduction to this volume, H. Daniel Peck studies these developments by tracking critical responses to the novel from the time of its publication in 1826 to the present day. The essays that follow present contemporary re-assessments of The Last of the Mohicans from a variety of critical perspectives.

The Last of the Mohicans is the most widely read and internationally acclaimed of James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking tales, and has traditionally been regarded as an exciting and well-made adventure story. In recent years, however, critics have found in this classic tale of colonial warfare deeper levels of meaning. In the introduction to this volume, H. Daniel Peck studies these developments by tracking critical responses to the novel from the time of its publication in 1826 to the present day. The essays that follow present contemporary re-assessments of The Last of the Mohicans from a variety of critical perspectives.

First published in 1951, Catcher in the Rye continues to be one of the most popular novels ever written as well as one of the most frequently banned books in the United States. In his introduction to this volume, Jack Salzman discusses the history of the novel's composition and publication, the mixed reception it received from critics and scholars, the arguments surrounding the attempts at censorship, and its position in a postmodernist literary world. The five essays that follow focus on various aspects of the novel: its ideology within the context of the Cold War, its portrait of a particular subculture within American society, its account of patterns of adolescent crisis, and its rich and complex narrative structure.

Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth captured the attention of a large portion of the reading public when it was published in a serial version in Scribner's for most of 1905 and then as a hardback in October of that year. Wharton's story of Lily Bart, a 'social parasite', according to reviewer Edmund Wilson, 'on the fringes of the very rich', topped the American bestseller list for four months. Furthermore, the novel sealed the author's reputation as one of the major English-language fiction writers of her generation. Each of the four articles collected in this New Essays volume, first published in 2001, makes distinctive claims for the historical, critical, and theoretical significance of Wharton's seminal work.

The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885) established William Dean Howells's reputation in the annals of American literature. This collection of essays, first published in 1991, argues the renewed importance of Howells's novel for an understanding of literature as a social force as well as a literary form. In his introduction Donald Pease recounts the fall and rise of the novel's value in literary history, outlines the various critical responses to Silas Lapham, and restores the novel to its social context. The essays that follow expand on this theme, challenging the accepted views of literary critics by explicating narrative methods and the genre of literary realism. Focusing much of its attention on economics of morality, manners, and pain, as well as the marketplace, the volume as a whole argues that a relationship exists between Howells's realism and its socioeconomic context.

Thomas Pynchon's novel, The Crying of Lot 49, is widely recognized as a significant contemporary work that frames the desire for meaning and the quest for knowledge within the social and political contexts of the fifties and sixties in America. In the introduction to this collection of original essays, Patrick O'Donnell discusses the background and critical reception of the novel. Further essays by five experts on contemporary literature examine: the novel's 'semiotic regime' or the way in which it organizes signs; the comparison of postmodernist Pynchon and the influential South American writer, Jorge Luis Borges; metaphor in the novel; the novel's narrative strategies; and the novel within the cultural contexts of American Puritanism and the Beat movement. Together, these essays provide an examination of the novel within its literary, historical, and scientific contexts.

Sister Carrie (1900), Theodore Dreiser's first novel, is one of the seminal works in American literature because of Dreiser's ground-breaking dramatization of the tragic life led by men and women in the modern American city. The introduction by Donald Pizer describes in detail the biographical and historical background of the novel and its critical reputation. The four original essays in this 1991 volume not only touch on long-established approaches to Sister Carrie but also reflect a number of the concerns of scholarly and critical movements. Each of the essays is a self-standing examination of a major area of interest in the novel, including such topics as the impact of Dreiser's own life on the creation of Carrie and Hurstwood, the relationship of Carrie and the theater, and Dreiser's naturalism and his narrative technique.

Sixty years after its first publication, Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio continues to stand as a 'classic' of modernist American fiction. In original new essays by David H. Stouck, Marcia Jacobson, Clare E. Colquitt, and Thomas Yingling, Winesburg is reconsidered in the contexts of the expressionist movement, the American boy-book tradition, the work of Sarah Orne Jewett, and the rise of industrial capitalism. An introduction by John W. Crowley reviews the career of Sherwood Anderson and his assimilation into the literary canon.

Sister Carrie (1900), Theodore Dreiser's first novel, is one of the seminal works in American literature because of Dreiser's ground-breaking dramatization of the tragic life led by men and women in the modern American city. The introduction by Donald Pizer describes in detail the biographical and historical background of the novel and its critical reputation. The four original essays in this 1991 volume not only touch on long-established approaches to Sister Carrie but also reflect a number of the concerns of scholarly and critical movements. Each of the essays is a self-standing examination of a major area of interest in the novel, including such topics as the impact of Dreiser's own life on the creation of Carrie and Hurstwood, the relationship of Carrie and the theater, and Dreiser's naturalism and his narrative technique.

Sixty years after its first publication, Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio continues to stand as a 'classic' of modernist American fiction. In original new essays by David H. Stouck, Marcia Jacobson, Clare E. Colquitt, and Thomas Yingling, Winesburg is reconsidered in the contexts of the expressionist movement, the American boy-book tradition, the work of Sarah Orne Jewett, and the rise of industrial capitalism. An introduction by John W. Crowley reviews the career of Sherwood Anderson and his assimilation into the literary canon.

When first published in 1929, Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms was decried as a vulgar novel, and was actually banned in Boston. In his extensive introduction, Scott Donaldson explains this initial reception, and then traces the change in perception toward the novel. The essays in this collection show that Farewell was a revolutionary novel that has only now begun to be understood - sixty years after publication. Sandra Spanier demonstrates how World War I determined the behaviour patterns of Catherine Barkley; James Phelan examines the first person narration; Ben Stoltzfus studies the novel from psychoanalytical (Lacanian) angles, and Paul Smith traces Hemingway's repeated attempts to write about the war.