The unusable past : theory and the study of American literature / Russell J. Reising

New York : Methuen, 1986. 1st edition. Hardcover. Fine cloth copy in a near-fine, very slightly edge-dulled dust wrapper. Remains particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and strong. Physical description; xii, 290 pages ; 21 cm. Notes; Includes bibliographical references (pages 278-286) and index. Contents; TABLE OF CONTENTS -- 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 -- 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 -- ""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 -- 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 safe for symbolism: Charles Feidelson, Jr. -- Worlds elsewhere: Richard Poirier -- Myths of American origins: post-structuralism -- ""The world's body"" -- What is to be done? -- What is the American tradition? -- New directions -- The American scene -- The significance of Frederick Douglass. Subjects; Geschichte 1930-1985. American literature History and criticism Theory, etc. Criticism United States History. Criticism. American literature History and criticism. Criticism United States History. English literature American writers Criticism - Critical studies. English literature American writers Criticism.