William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury met with only limited success when published in 1929, probably due to its fragmented, non-chronological structure. Since, however, it has become one of the most popular of Faulkner's novels, serving as a litmus paper upon which critical approaches have tested themselves. In the introduction to this volume Noel Polk traces the critical responses to the novel from the time of its publication to the present day. The essays that follow present contemporary reassessments of The Sound and the Fury from a variety of critical perspectives. Dawn Trouard offers...
William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury met with only limited success when published in 1929, probably due to its fragmented, non-chronological stru...
My Antonia is the Cather novel that is most often taught in high school and college courses, and the one that most readers try first when they approach Cather. It is at once her most autobiographical novel and her most aesthetically complex; it can be enjoyed both for its simple, pure prose and for its literary depth. The essays in this volume place the novel in the context of American literary history, African-American music, and Southern writing, and offer illuminating ways of reading Cather's best-known work.
My Antonia is the Cather novel that is most often taught in high school and college courses, and the one that most readers try first when they approac...
James Baldwin's first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, has gained a wide readership and much critical acclaim since its publication in 1953. While most critics have seen it as focusing exclusively on the African-American fundamentalist church and its effect on characters brought up within its tradition, these scholars posit that issues of homosexuality, the social construction of identity, anthropological conceptions of community, and the quest for an artistic identity provide more elucidating approaches to the novel.
James Baldwin's first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, has gained a wide readership and much critical acclaim since its publication in 1953. While m...
Ernest Hemingway is one of the most gifted, oft-taught, and frequently criticized authors of the short story in the English language. The introduction and four original scholarly essays in this volume constitute an survey of Hemingway's career as a short story writer and offer an overview of practical problems involved in reading his work. Also included is a selected bibliography designed to direct readers to the most valuable resources for the study of Hemingway's short fiction.
Ernest Hemingway is one of the most gifted, oft-taught, and frequently criticized authors of the short story in the English language. The introduction...
This book provides a multifaceted introduction to Nobel Prize-winner Saul Bellow's most widely read, respected, and taught work of fiction, Seize the Day. This tragi-comic story of one day in the life of an average man on the brink of failure and despair is a prime example of the Jewish novels of the 1950s. The essays in this volume examine the thematic, stylistic, and critical elements of Bellow's masterpiece and offer different approaches to how the novel may or may not be thought of as "ethnic."
This book provides a multifaceted introduction to Nobel Prize-winner Saul Bellow's most widely read, respected, and taught work of fiction, Seize the ...
The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885) established William Dean Howells's reputation in the annals of American literature. This collection of essays argues the renewed importance of Howells's novel for an understanding of literature as 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 then restores Silas Lapham to its social context. The essays that follow expand on this theme, challenging the accepted views of literary critics by explicating...
The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885) established William Dean Howells's reputation in the annals of American literature. This collection of essays argues t...
The editor tracks critical responses to "The Last of the Mohicans" from the time of its publication in 1826 to the present day, while the essays that follow present contemporary reassessments of the novel from a variety of critical perspectives.
The editor tracks critical responses to "The Last of the Mohicans" from the time of its publication in 1826 to the present day, while the essays that ...
Go Down, Moses (1942) came to fruition during the second world war and was written during one of Faulkner's most traumatic periods, yet it has fallen to critical neglect amid the vast scholarship on the great Southern writer. In part, this collection aims to tilt the balance, forcing the reader beyond critical commonplaces through asking challenging questions. The five essays assembled here explore the tensions of race and gender apparent throughout the novel.
Go Down, Moses (1942) came to fruition during the second world war and was written during one of Faulkner's most traumatic periods, yet it has fallen ...
