Samuel Clemens and the Progress of a Stylistic Rebel

1961 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 31-42
Author(s):  
Tony Tanner
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
American Literature ◽  
History Of ◽  
Huckleberry Finn

When Huckleberry Finn was published in 1882 at least one New England library promptly banned it. This rather pathetic gesture is an apt indication of the larger crisis of culture of the decade, the significance of which extends in many directions - social, philosophical, and theological. In art, it took the form of a stylistic rebellion, a rebellion that ultimately rendered obsolete the cherished styles of Longfellow, Emerson and Holmes, and set a tone which has remained a constant in American literature to this day. This rebellion was brought to a head by one man; and his book, Huckleberry Finn, is pivotal in the history of American literature.

Songs of Our Fathers

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David C. Paul
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
American Literature ◽  
Folk Music ◽  
State Prison ◽  
History Of ◽  
Van Wyck Brooks ◽  
Usable Past

This chapter focuses on Henry Cowell's advocacy of Charles E. Ives and his music between the years 1927 and 1947. Cowell's ideas about Ives can be grouped into two periods: those produced prior to the sentence he served at San Quentin State Prison for a 1936 conviction on a morals charge, and those produced after his release in 1940. This chapter first considers Cowell's portrait of Ives as a New England musical ethnographer before discussing the views of anthropologists, folklorists, and musical modernists about folk music. It then examines how Cowell became interested in folk music, along with his influence on Ives. It also looks at the notion of a usable past, advanced by Van Wyck Brooks in his essay “On Creating a Usable Past,” in which he called for a rewriting of the history of American literature. The chapter concludes with an assessment of Ives's “Concord” Sonata and Ives's commitment to freedom (in the sense of refusing to impose a fixed final form on his works).

The New England Village Novel and Picturesque Reform

2021 ◽  
pp. 162-210
Author(s):  
John Evelev
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
New England ◽  
American Literature ◽  
Social Values ◽  
American Novel ◽  
History Of ◽  
Residual Space ◽  
Village Life ◽  
The Village

This chapter focuses on the New England village novel, a prestigious subgenre that figured in many of the midcentury’s critical assessments of what constituted “American literature” but that is now largely forgotten. Once important novels like Sylvester Judd’s Margaret (1845), Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Kavanagh (1849), Oliver Wendell Holmes’s Elsie Venner (1861), and Henry Ward Beecher’s Norwood (1869) tell us about middle-class social values and their investment in reform in their depictions of New England village life during this period of time. This chapter explores some of the contradictions inherent in locating idealized theological and social change within the residual space of the New England village. As a consequence of these contradictions, the utopia of the New England village novel becomes literally “no place,” frozen between nostalgia for a unified national community that never existed and hope that through reform the village could fulfill utopian possibilities for the nation. This genre also maps out the transformation of attitudes toward social reform from the picturesque utopianism of Judd’s Margaret to a much narrower vision of the transformative possibilities of the picturesque in Beecher’s post-Civil War novel, Norwood, a quarter of a century later. This transformation reveals the importance of the picturesque to an alternative history of the mid-nineteenth-century American novel and explores the rise and decline of middle-class use of the picturesque as an authoritative discourse to reshape spaces and enact social change in American life.

William Bradford

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
David T. Read
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
American Literature ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cape Cod ◽  
War Of Independence ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 19Th Century

Students of William Bradford (b. 1590–d. 1657) approach his career from two main standpoints that are closely related but that lead in rather different directions in terms of the existing scholarship. First, there is Bradford the historical personage, the governor of Plymouth Colony for two separate periods of a dozen years (1621–1633 and 1645–1657) and for several shorter terms in between, thus an important figure in the early British colonization of North America as well as in the myth of national founding that developed after the American War of Independence. Second, there is Bradford the writer, the author of the most important and best-known document to emerge from New England during the first phase of settlement, Of Plymouth Plantation. This manuscript was largely out of view for approximately 200 years—in private hands after Bradford’s death and through the 18th century, presumed lost during the American War of Independence, finally located in the bishop of London’s library in 1855, first printed in 1856, and returned to the United States only in 1897—so in many respects Bradford’s history of Plymouth belongs to the modern age. The text is divided between a fairly short First Book that is organized into chapters and offers an eloquent and coherent narrative of the early history of the Pilgrims up to the arrival on Cape Cod and a lengthy Second Book, divided into annals that chronicle Plymouth Colony’s activities from 1621 through 1646. Obviously, Bradford’s manuscript is the essential primary source for the history of the Pilgrims’ colonial enterprise, but its merits and nuances as a book have been recognized at least since its rediscovery in the 19th century, and excerpts from it have a place in the first part of every comprehensive anthology of American literature. The researcher’s line of inquiry will depend on whether the main interest is in Bradford’s contribution to literary and intellectual history or to history more broadly understood, though there remain many possible points of intersection. The aim here is to provide both the core group of materials related to Bradford and a range of resources for exploring the context of important passages, themes, and events in Of Plymouth Plantation.

The Salem Witch Trials

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abram C. Van Engen
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
American Literature ◽  
Massachusetts Bay ◽  
Glorious Revolution ◽  
Salem Witch Trials ◽  
Witch Trials ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Glorious Revolution ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Witch Hunts

The Salem witch trials have gripped American imaginations ever since they occurred in 1692. At the end of the 17th century, after years of mostly resisting witch hunts and witch trial prosecutions, Puritans in New England suddenly found themselves facing a conspiracy of witches in a war against Satan and his minions. What caused this conflict to erupt? Or rather, what caused Puritans to think of themselves as engaged, at that moment, in such a cosmic battle? These are some of the mysteries that the Salem witch trials have left behind, taken up and explored not just by each new history of the event but also by the literary imaginations of many American writers. The primary explanations of Salem set the crisis within the context of larger developments in Puritan society. Though such developments could be traced to the beginning of Puritan settlement in New England, most commentators focus on shifts occurring near the end of the century. This was a period of intense economic change, with new markets emerging and new ways of making money. It was also a time when British imperial interests were on the rise, tightening and expanding an empire that had, at times, been somewhat loosely held together. In the midst of those expansions, British colonists and settlers faced numerous wars on their frontiers, especially in northern New England against French Catholics and their Wabanaki allies. Finally, New England underwent, resented, and sometimes resisted intense shifts in government policy as a result of the changing monarchy in London. Under James II, Massachusetts Bay lost its original charter, which had upheld the Puritan way for over fifty years. A new government imposed royal rule and religious tolerance. With the overthrow of James II in the Glorious Revolution, the Massachusetts Bay government carried on with no official charter or authority from 1689 until 1691. When a new charter arrived during the midst of the Salem witch hunt, it did not restore all the privileges, positions, or policies of the original “New England Way,” and many lamented what they had lost. In other words, in 1692, New England faced economic, political, and religious uncertainty while suffering from several devastating battles on its northern frontier. All of these factors have been used to explain Salem. When Governor William Phips finally halted the trials, nineteen had been executed, five had died in prison, and one man had been pressed to death for refusing to speak. Protests began almost immediately with the first examinations of the accused, and by the time the trials ended, almost all agreed that something had gone terribly wrong. Even so, the population could not necessarily agree on an explanation for what had occurred. Publishing any talk of the trials was prohibited, but that ban was quickly broken. Since 1695, interpretations have rolled from the presses, and American literature—in poems, plays, and novels—has attempted to make its own sense and use of what one scholar calls the mysterious and terrifying “specter of Salem.”

Five Centuries of Spanish Literature: From the Cid Through the Golden Age. An Anthology Selected and Edited for Students of Spanish by Linton Lomas Barrett. New York — Toronto, Dodd, Mead & Company, 1962; An Outline History of Spanish American Literature, Third Edition, Englekirk, Leonard, Reid and Crow. New York, Appleton-Century- Crofts, 1965; Lecturas Intermedias: Prosas Y Poesias, Anderson, Davison, Smith. New York, Harper & Row, 1965; Los Duendes Deterministas Y Otors Cuentos, Enrique Anderson Imbert, Edited by John Y. Falconieri. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, 1965; Hoy Es Fiesta, Antonio Buero Vallejo. Edited by J. E. Lyon, With Vocabulary by K. S. B. Croft. London, George G. Harrap (Toronto, Clarke, Irwin), 1964; Voces Españolas de Hoy, Edited by Duran and Alvarez. New York, Harcourt, Brace & World (Toronto, Longmans Canada), 1965; Selecciones (Textes Espagnols À L’usage Des Canadiens-Français; Spanish Readings for English-Canadian Students), S. Fielden-Briggs. Montreal, Beauchemin, 1965; Cuentos Americanos de Nuestros Dias: Ten Spanish American Short Stories, Edited by Jean Franco. London, Harrap (Toronto, Clarke, Irwin), 1965; La España Moderna Vista Y Sentida Por Los Españoles, Edited by Thomas R. Hart and Oarlos Rojas. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, 1966; Don Brazazo de La Carretera: An Elementary Spanish Reader, Richard Musman. London, G. Bell and Sons (Toronto, Clarke, Irwin), 1964; Ortega Y Gasset: Sus Mejores Paginas, Edited by Manuel Durán. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, 1966; de Cela a Castillo-Navarro: Veinte Años de Prosa Española Contemporanea, Edited by Carlos Rojas. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, 1965; Palabras Modernas, J. R. Jump. London, George G. Harrap (Toronto, Clarke, Irwin), 1965;Five Centuries of Spanish Literature : From the Cid Through the Golden Age. An Anthology Selected and Edited for Students of Spanish by Linton Lomas Barrett. New York — Toronto, Dodd, Mead & Company, 1962. Pp. x, 352.An Outline History of Spanish American Literature, Third Edition, Englekirk, Leonard, Reid and Crow. New York, Appleton-Century- Crofts, 1965. Pp. xiii, 252. $2.95.Lecturas Intermedias: Prosas y Poesias, Anderson, Davison, Smith. New York, Harper & Row, 1965. Pp. x, 333. (Plus Instructor’s Manual, 75 pages.)Los Duendes Deterministas y Otors Cuentos, Enrique Anderson Imbert, Edited by John Y. Falconieri. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, 1965, Pp. ix, 192. $3.75.Hoy Es Fiesta, Antonio Buero Vallejo. Edited by J. E. Lyon, with vocabulary by K. S. B. Croft. London, George G. Harrap (Toronto, Clarke, Irwin), 1964, Pp. 192. $2.25.Voces Españolas de Hoy, edited by Duran and Alvarez. New York, Harcourt, Brace & World (Toronto, Longmans Canada), 1965. Pp. vili, 216. $3.25.Selecciones (textes espagnols à l’usage des canadiens-français; Spanish readings for English-Canadian Students), S. Fielden-Briggs. Montreal, Beauchemin, 1965. Pp. 149.Cuentos Americanos de Nuestros Dias: Ten Spanish American Short Stories, edited by Jean Franco. London, Harrap (Toronto, Clarke, Irwin), 1965. Pp. 179. $2.55.La España Moderna Vista y Sentida por Los Españoles, edited by Thomas R. Hart and Oarlos Rojas. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, 1966. Pp. xiii, 341. $5.95.Don Brazazo de la Carretera: An Elementary Spanish Reader, Richard Musman. London, G. Bell and Sons (Toronto, Clarke, Irwin), 1964. Pp. 96. $0.95.Ortega y Gasset: SUS Mejores Paginas, edited by Manuel Durán. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, 1966. Pp. vi, 250. $3.95.De Cela a Castillo-Navarro: Veinte Años de Prosa Española Contemporanea, edited by Carlos Rojas. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, 1965. Pp. ix, 213. $2.95.Palabras Modernas, J. R. Jump. London, George G. Harrap (Toronto, Clarke, Irwin), 1965. Pp. 85. $1.10.

1966 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 63-66
Author(s):  
J. H. P.
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Short Stories ◽  
New Jersey ◽  
American Literature ◽  
Spanish Literature ◽  
Spanish American ◽  
Antonio Buero Vallejo ◽  
History Of ◽  
Carlos Rojas ◽  
English Canadian

Teaching and Researching American Literature and American Realism in China

2019 ◽  
pp. 647-663
Author(s):  
Yuping Wang
Keyword(s):  
American Literature ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Cultural Transformation ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Careful Study ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Political Incentives ◽  
History Of ◽  
English Speaking

The study and teaching of American literature and American realism in China mirrored the social development and cultural transformation in China and was often fueled by political incentives. This chapter examines the cultural and political forces affecting the reception of American literature in different stages of Chinese history and investigates the teaching of American literature and of American realism in Chinese university classrooms. Different from the teaching of American literature in English-speaking countries, the American literature course in China serves a twofold purpose: to provide cultural nutrient for the cultivation of a broader mind by highlighting the cultural norms and rubrics in literature and to promote students’ language proficiency by a careful study of the text and formal elements of literary works. The history of the Chinese reception of American literature thus reflects the resilience and openness of Chinese culture in its negotiation with foreign cultures.

scholarly journals The City-State of Boston: The Rise and Fall of an Atlantic Power, 1630–1865

2020 ◽  
Vol 94 (3) ◽  
pp. 631-636
Author(s):  
Noam Maggor
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
British Empire ◽  
American Revolution ◽  
Regional Autonomy ◽  
Atlantic Trade ◽  
History Of ◽  
British Colonial ◽  
City State ◽  
The City ◽  
American Nation

Mark Peterson's The City-State of Boston is a formidable work of history—prodigiously researched, lucidly written, immense in scope, and yet scrupulously detailed. A meticulous history of New England over more than two centuries, the book argues that Boston and its hinterland emerged as a city-state, a “self-governing republic” that was committed first and foremost to its own regional autonomy (p. 6). Rather than as a British colonial outpost or the birthplace of the American Revolution—the site of a nationalist struggle for independence—the book recovers Boston's long-lost tradition as a “polity in its own right,” a fervently independent hub of Atlantic trade whose true identity placed it in tension with the overtures of both the British Empire and, later, the American nation-state (p. 631).

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