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Examining the most frequently taught works by key writers of the American Renaissance, including Poe, Emerson, Fuller, Douglass, Hawthorne, Melville, Thoreau, Jacobs, Stowe, Whitman, and Dickinson, this engaging and accessible book offers the crucial historical, social, and political contexts in which they must be studied. Larry J. Reynolds usefully groups authors together for more lively and fruitful discussion and engages with current as well as historical theoretical debates on the area. The book includes essential biographical and historical information to situate and contextualize the literature, and incorporates major relevant criticism in each chapter. Recommended readings for further study, along with a list of works cited, conclude each chapter.¿¿
List of contents
Preface
1. Longfellow, Poe, and American Literary Emergence
2. Emerson, Thoreau, and Transcendentalism
3. Fuller, Fern, and Women’s Rights
4. Melville, Hawthorne, and Suffering Humanity
5. Douglass, Stowe, Jacobs, and Anti-Slavery
6. Whitman, Dickinson, and the Civil War.
Works Cited
About the author
Larry J. Reynolds is a University Distinguished Professor at Texas A&M University. He is a leading scholar of the American Renaissance and has abundant experience teaching and writing for undergraduate audiences.
Summary
Examining the most frequently taught works by key writers of the American Renaissance, this engaging and accessible book offers the crucial historical, social, and political contexts in which they must be studied.
