American Literature in Transition, 1910â1920
Cambridge University Press, 1/31/2018
EAN 9781107143302, ISBN10: 1107143306
Hardcover, 350 pages, 23.6 x 15.8 x 2.6 cm
Language: English
American Literature in Transition, 1910–1920 offers provocative new readings of authors whose innovations are recognized as inaugurating Modernism in US letters, including Robert Frost, Willa Cather, T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, H. D., and Marianne Moore. Gathering the voices of both new and established scholars, the volume also reflects the diversity and contradictions of US literature of the 1910s. 'Literature' itself is construed variously, leading to explorations of jazz, the movies, and political writing as well as little magazines, lantern slides, and sports reportage. One section of thematic essays cuts across genre boundaries. Another section oriented to formats drills deeply into the workings of specific media, genres, or forms. Essays on institutions conclude the collection, although a critical mass of contributors throughout explore long-term literary and cultural trends - where political repression, race prejudice, war, and counterrevolution are no less prominent than experimentation, progress, and egalitarianism.
Chronology
1910–1920
Introduction
revolution, progress, and reaction in the first decade of American modernism Mark W. Van Wienen
Part I. Themes
1. The city
modern poetics and metropolitan life John Timberman Newcomb
2. The country
myth and reality, affirmation and reform Janet Galligani Casey
3. Indian country
between native claims and modernist desires Beth H. Piatote
4. Labor
the Lawrence strike in poetry and public opinion John Marsh
5. The color line
racial inequality in the literary field Michael Nowlin
6. The new woman
narrating the histor(ies) of the feminist movement Francesca Sawaya
7. Eugenics
bad blood and better babies Beth Widmaier Capo
8. Bohemians
Greenwich Village and 'the masses' Joanna Levin
9. Americanism
assimilation and the 'immigrant question' Cathy J. Schlund-Vials
10. Masculinity
regenerative primitivism as cultural compensation Jonathan Vincent
11. Revolution
imagining a counternarrative Laura Hapke
Part II. Formats
12. Modernist poetry
or, the growing taste for the lower kinds of poetry Robin G. Schulze
13. Modernist fiction
women's writing and cultural emergence Guy Reynolds
14. Realist drama
from the little theatre to Broadway Brenda Murphy
15. Realist fiction
a resilient mode Robin Peel
16. Roots and popular music
literary encounters with jazz and blues Tim A. Ryan
17. Popular verse
poetry in motion Mike Chasar
18. Sports writing
a foundational decade Scott D. Emmert
19. Manifestos
anti-foundationalism in avant-garde, feminist, and African-American modernisms Laura Ann Winkiel
Part III. Institutions
20. Little magazines
aesthetics and dissent Jayne E. Marek
21. The movies
the transitional era Charlie Keil
22. The academy
potential and constraint Cary Nelson
23. The presidency
Woodrow Wilson and the reinvention of executive power Sean McCann
24. The war
event and institution Mark W. Van Wienen
Works cited
Index.