Documents of American Realism - Hardcover

Pizer (author)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0809320967 ISBN 13: 9780809320967

Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press, 1998

Synopsis

Donald Pizer presents the major critical discussions of American realism and naturalism from the beginnings of the movement in the 1870s to the present. He includes the most often cited discussions ranging from William Dean Howells, Henry James, and Frank Norris in the late nineteenth century to those by V. L. Parrington, Malcolm Cowley, and Lionel Trilling in the early twentieth century. To provide the full context for the effort to interpret the nature and significance of realism and naturalism during the periods when the movements were live issues on the critical scene, however, he also includes many uncollected essays. His selections since World War II reflect the major recent tendencies in academic criticism of the movements. Through introductions to each of the three sections, Pizer provides background, delineating the underlying issues motivating attempts to attack, defend, or describe American realism and naturalism. In particular, Pizer attempts to reveal the close ties between criticism of the two movements and significant cultural concerns of the period in which the criticism appeared. Before each selection, Pizer provides a brief biographical note and establishes the cultural milieu in which the essay was originally published. He closes his anthology with a bibliography of twentieth-century academic criticism of American realism and naturalism.

About this title

From the Publisher:

Follow the Literary Movements and Their Criticism
"Encompassing more than 120 years of American literary criticism (1874-1995), this well-selected collection is a model of editing by an eminent critic of American literature. . . . Highly recommended to all undergraduate students and scholars of American literature"--Choice

Donald Pizer presents the major critical discussions of American realism and naturalism from the beginnings of the movement in the 1870s to the present. He includes the most often cited discussions ranging from William Dean Howells, Henry James, and Frank Norris in the late nineteenth century to those by V. L. Parrington, Malcolm Cowley, and Lionel Trilling in the early twentieth century. To provide the full context for the effort to interpret the nature and significance of realism and naturalism during the periods when the movements were live issues on the critical scene, however, he also includes many uncollected essays. His selections since World War II reflect the major recent tendencies in academic criticism of the movements.

Through introductions to each of the three sections, Pizer provides background, delineating the underlying issues motivating attempts to attack, defend, or describe American realism and naturalism. In particular, Pizer attempts to reveal the close ties between criticism of the two movements and significant cultural concerns of the period in which the criticism appeared. Before each selection, Pizer provides a brief biographical note and establishes the cultural milieu in which the essay was originally published. He closes his anthology with a bibliography of twentieth-century academic criticism of American realism and naturalism.

About the Author:

Donald Pizer, Pierce Butler Professor of English at Tulane University, is the author of eight books, compiler of a Dreiser bibliography, and editor of twenty-four volumes. Decidedly the authoritative voice in American literary realism and naturalism, Pizer has authored "Realism and Naturalism in Nineteenth-Century American Literature, Twentieth- Century American Literary Naturalism: An Interpretation, "and "The Theory and Practice of American Literary Naturalism: Selected Essays and Reviews."

About this edition

• Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0809320967
• ISBN 13: 9780809320967
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 277