The unusable past : theory and the study of American literature

First Published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company. Cover Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents General editor’s preface Acknowledgments Introduction 1 The unused past: theorists of American literature and the problem of exclusivity An unusable past? What is an American author? American literature: out of space - out of time The consolation of criticism 2 The problem of Puritan origins in literary history and theory Puritanism as tragic vision: Perry Miller Puritanism as allegory: Yvor Winters, Richard Chase, and Leslie Fiedler Puritanism as rhetoric: Sacvan Bercovitch 3 ‘Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is’: cultural theories of American literature Unreality in America: Lionel Trilling Parties of one: R. W. B. Lewis The romance of America: Richard Chase The apolitical unconscious: Leslie Fiedler An American fable: Leo Marx The Phelps farm revisited: cultural theorists on Huckleberry Finn 4 American literature should not mean but be: self-reflexive theories of American literature D. H. Lawrence and American art-speech New Criticism and the American Renaissance: F. O. Matthiessen Making the world safefor symbolism: Charles Feidelson, Jr Worlds elsewhere: Richard Poirier Myths of American origins: post-structuralism ‘The world’s body' 5 What is to be done? What is the American tradition? New directions The American scene 6 Conclusion: the significance of Frederick Douglass Notes Works Cited Index First Published in 2002. Amongst a time of rapid and radical social change, New Accents is a positive response to change, with each volume seeking to encourage rather than resist the process of change, to stretch rather than reinforce boundaries that currently define literature and its academic study. This study offers the authors'theories of American literature and more specifically, his interest here is in how those theories define the canon of American literature and how those definitions influence our understanding and teaching of that canon.