Contribution to Book
The Trouble with the Gothic: Poe, Lippard, and the Poetics of Critique
The Cambridge Companion to the Literature of the American Renaissance
(2018)
Abstract
The American Renaissance has been a foundational concept in American literary history for nearly a century. The phrase connotes a period, as well as an event, an iconic turning point in the growth of a national literature and a canon of texts that would shape American fiction, poetry, and oratory for generations. F.O. Matthiessen coined the term in 1941 to describe the years 1850-1855, which saw the publications of major writings by Hawthorne, Melville, Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman. This companion takes up the concept of the American Renaissance and explores its origins, meaning, and longevity. Essays by distinguished scholars move chronologically from the formative reading of American Renaissance authors to the careers of major figures ignored by Matthiessen, including Stowe, Douglass, Harper, and Longfellow. This volume uses the best of current literary studies to illuminate an era that reaches far beyond the Civil War and continues to shape our understanding of American literature.
Keywords
- American literature,
- 19th century,
- History and criticism
Disciplines
Publication Date
2018
Editor
Christopher N. Phillips
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Series
Cambridge companions to ...
ISBN
9781108431088
DOI
10.1017/9781108355643.005
Citation Information
Russell Sbriglia. "The Trouble with the Gothic: Poe, Lippard, and the Poetics of Critique" New YorkThe Cambridge Companion to the Literature of the American Renaissance (2018) p. 38 - 51 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/russell-sbriglia/5/