A History of American Literature - Softcover

Gray, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1405192283 ISBN 13: 9781405192286

Publisher: Blackwell Pub, 2011

Synopsis

Updated throughout and with much new material, A History of American Literature, Second Edition, is the most up-to-date and comprehensive survey available of the myriad forms of American Literature from pre-Columbian times to the present.

• The most comprehensive and up-to-date history of American literature available today
• Covers fiction, poetry, drama, and non-fiction, as well as other forms of literature including folktale, spirituals, the detective story, the thriller, and science fiction
• Explores the plural character of American literature, including the contributions made by African American, Native American, Hispanic and Asian American writers
• Considers how our understanding of American literature has changed over the past?thirty years
• Situates American literature in the contexts of American history, politics and society
• Offers an invaluable introduction to American literature for students at all levels, academic and general readers

About this title

Book Description:

This major new history of American literature from pre-Columbian times to the present is written in an informed but accessible style by one of the leading authorities in the field. While paying attention to the full range of fiction, poetry, drama and non-fiction that has been incorporated into the mainstream literary canon, it also looks at other forms, including oral literature, folktales, spirituals, the blues, the western, the detective story, the thriller, and science fiction. All this writing is placed in the context of American social and cultural history both before and after the formation of the United States. Taking account of the radical changes that have occurred in our understanding of American literature over the past 30 years, this book concentrates above all on the plural character of culture in the United States, the conflicting forces at work in its history, and the continuing acts of imagination that constitute the making of this nation.

From the Back Cover:

Praise for the First Edition:

"Richard Gray's real achievement is somehow to have compressed more than 400 years of thrillingly rich literary history between two covers."
Literary Review

"Highly readable, jargon-free, and engaging."
American Literary Scholarship

"How Gray managed to so captivatingly capture the depth and breadth of so complex a literature in under a thousand pages is worth considering. [...] Richard Gray possesses the most balanced scholarship of the entire range of American literature I ever read. [...] This is the first history of American literature fully worthy of the multi-dimensionality of its subject."
Norman Weinstein, Boise State University

First published in 2004, A History of American Literature is one of the most popular and critically acclaimed surveys of American literature from pre-Columbian times to the present available today. This widely anticipated second edition features a wealth of fresh updates and new material, including a detailed survey of the fiction, drama, and poetry written in response to 9/11 and the "war on terror." Other additions include coverage of the cultural consequences of the new era in American politics ushered in by the election of President Obama, and the development of new literary and cultural movements such as the New Formalists.

Written in an informed and approachable style by Richard Gray, one of the leading authorities in the field, this survey helps the reader develop a deeper understanding of and insight into the immense breadth of American literary traditions within the context of American social and cultural history. While focusing on the full range of fiction, poetry, drama, and non-fiction that has been incorporated into the mainstream literary canon, Gray also considers popular American literary traditions such as oral literature, folktales, spirituals, Westerns, detective stories, thrillers, and science fiction.

Compelling and authoritative, A History of American Literature, Second Edition, continues its tradition of representing an unparalleled introduction to the full breadth and diversity of the American literary tradition.

About this edition

• Publisher: Blackwell Pub
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1405192283
• ISBN 13: 9781405192286
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 913