The Twentieth-Century American Fiction Handbook

ISBN-13: 9781405160247 / Angielski / Miękka / 2011 / 416 str.

Christopher J MacGowan

Opis

This student-friendly handbook provides an engaging overview of American fiction over the twentieth century, with entries on the important historical contexts and central issues, as well as the major texts and writers.

• Provides extensive coverage of short stories and short story writers as well as novels and novelists
• Discusses the cultural contexts and issues that shape the texts and their reputations
• Wide-ranging in scope, including science fiction and recent Native American writing
• Featured writers range from Henry James and Theodore Dresier to Toni Morrison, Don DeLillo, and Sherman Alexie
• Ideal student accompaniment to courses in Twentieth-Century American Literature or Fiction

Spis treści

Acknowledgments.

How to Use This Book.

Chronology: Significant Dates and Events, 1900 2000.

Introduction.

Part 1 Historical Contexts.

The American Scene, c.1900.

Expatriates: 1920s and Beyond.

Charting the Depression: The 1930s.

Post–war Alienation, Experiment, and Alternatives.

Multicultural America: Borders, Tradition, and Identity.

Part 2 Major Writers.

Henry James (1843 1916).

Edith Wharton (1862 1937).

Theodore Dreiser (1871 1945).

Willa Cather (1873 1947).

Gertrude Stein (1874 1946).

Sinclair Lewis (1885 1951).

Raymond Chandler (1888 1959).

Zora Neale Hurston (1891 1960).

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896 1940).

John Dos Passos (1896 1970).

William Faulkner (1897 1962).

Ernest Hemingway (1899 1961).

Vladimir Nabokov (1899 1977).

Thomas Wolfe (1900 1938).

John Steinbeck (1902 1968).

Nathanael West (1903 1940).

Richard Wright (1908 1960).

William S. Burroughs (1914 1997).

Saul Bellow (1915 2005).

Norman Mailer (1923 2007).

James Baldwin (1924 1987).

John Barth (b.1930).

Toni Morrison (b.1931).

John Updike (1932 2009).

Philip Roth (b.1933).

Don DeLillo (b.1936).

Thomas Pynchon (b.1937).

Joyce Carol Oates (b.1938).

Raymond Carver (1938 1988).

Louise Erdrich (b.1954).

Sherman Alexie (b.1966).

Part 3 Key Texts.

Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie (1900).

Henry James, The Wings of the Dove (1902).

Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth (1905).

Willa Cather, My Antonia (1918).

Sherwood Anderson, Winesburg, Ohio (1919).

Sinclair Lewis, Babbitt (1922).

F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (1925).

Ernest Hemingway, In Our Time (1925).

William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury (1929).

Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937).

Djuna Barnes, Nightwood (1937).

John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath (1939).

Richard Wright, Native Son (1940).

J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye (1951).

Flannery O Connor, Wise Blood (1952).

Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952).

Jack Kerouac, On the Road (1957).

Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita (1958).

Joseph Heller, Catch–22 (1961).

William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch (1962).

Saul Bellow, Herzog (1964).

Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49 (1966).

Philip Roth, Portnoy′s Complaint (1969).

Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony (1977).

Alice Walker, The Color Purple (1982).

Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street (1984).

William Gibson, Neuromancer (1984).

Don DeLillo, White Noise (1985).

Toni Morrison, Beloved (1987).

Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club (1989).

Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses (1992).

Part 4 Themes.

Race and American Fiction.

The American Short Story.

Hollywood and American Fiction.

Women and Twentieth–Century American Fiction.

Guide to Further Reading.

Index.

O autorze

Christopher MacGowan is Professor of English at the College of William and Mary, USA. His numerous publications include work on William Carlos Williams, Denise Levertov, Sherwood Anderson, Ford Madox Ford, and Vladimir Nabokov.

Blurb

Accessibly structured with entries on important historical contexts, central issues, key texts and the major writers, this Handbook provides an engaging overview of twentieth–century American fiction. 

Featured writers range from Henry James and Theodore Dreiser to contemporary figures such as Joyce Carol Oates, Thomas Pynchon, and Sherman Alexie, and analyses of key works include The Great Gatsby, Lolita, The Color Purple, and The Joy Luck Club, among others. Relevant contexts for these works, such as the impact of Hollywood, the expatriate scene in the 1920s, and the political unrest of the 1960s are also explored, and their importance discussed.

This is a stimulating overview of twentieth–century American fiction, offering invaluable guidance and essential information for students and general readers.