"Many of the heralded writers of the 20th century--including Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and William Faulkner--first made their mark in the 1920s, while established authors like Willa Cather and Sinclair Lewis produced some of their most important works during this period. Classic novels such as The Sun Also Rises, The Great Gatsby, Elmer Gantry, and The Sound and the Fury not only mark prodigious advances in American fiction,...

"Explores the social, cultural, and historical contexts of American literature from 1860 to 1910"--P. [4] of cover.

As American literature developed it was influenced by a number of factors, such as the wilderness, religious beliefs, ideas about morality, and Enlightenment philosophy. Covering the first 300 years of American literature as well as the literature of the Puritans, American Enlightenment, American Revolution, and more, this volume discusses the writers and works of the American Colonial and Revolutionary periods. Writers covered include: Joel Barlow...

Foster provides a survey of the four major Beat writers: Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and Gregory Corso. These writers were closely allied from the beginning of their careers and shared a particular vision of America, one which in turn defined much of their most celebrated work. They wrote in opposition to the materialistic, conformist culture they saw developing in postwar America, seeking through their fiction and poetry a...

Reading the West is a collection of critical essays by writers, independent scholars, and critics on the literature of the American West. The essays in this volume enrich our understanding of western writing by reemphasizing the importance of "place" in literary studies. Whether focusing upon gender, genre, class, or multiethnic and environmental concerns, these essays seek to reinvigorate an interest in regional artistry. Aimed to a general audience...