Overview

Desire and Disillusionment: A Guide to American Fiction Since 1890 departs from the typical academic study in that it appeals to the general reading public, undergraduate and graduate students, and literary scholars. The book’s focus on a highly relatable subject, longing and loss, its running plot summaries, and lucid presentation account for this broad appeal. Lawrence E. Hussman examines selected novels and short stories of fifty major American fiction writers from Stephen Crane to Junot Diaz. The reader will also find references to American politics, history, and popular culture in the book. Additionally, the author’s decidedly original, provocative critical approach delivers new insights that will reshape thinking about American literature as a reflection of the nation’s way of life. Literary critics will find the discussion of naturalism as a bridge to modernism and postmodernism especially enlightening. Furthermore, the book includes a summary of ideas about desire from the ancient philosophers to today’s scientists who study the brain. Desire and Disillusionment can serve as a stimulating textbook in American literature, history, or philosophy classes.

Full Product Details

Author:   Yoshinobu Hakutani ,  Lawrence E. Hussman
Publisher:   Peter Lang Publishing Inc
Imprint:   Peter Lang Publishing Inc
Edition:   New edition
Volume:   64
Dimensions:   Width: 15.50cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 23.00cm
Weight:   0.630kg
ISBN:  

9781433122910

ISBN 10:   143312291
Pages:   376
Publication Date:   23 August 2013
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

Contents: The Provenance of Longing – Preamble: American Desire and Literary Naturalism – Writers: Stephen Crane (1871–1900), Frank Norris (1870–1902), Kate Chopin (1851–1904), Theodore Dreiser (1871–1945), Jack London (1876–1916), Edith Wharton (1862–1937), Willa Cather (1873–1947), Sherwood Anderson (1876–1941), Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951) Carson McCullers (1917–1967), Katherine Anne Porter (1890–1980), F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940), William Faulkner (1897–1962), Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961), John Steinbeck (1902–1968), John Dos Passos (1896–1970) Nathanael West (1903–1940), James T. Farrell (1904–1979), Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960), Richard Wright (1908–1960), Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964), E. B. White (1899–1985), Walker Percy (1916–1990), Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977), J.D. Salinger (1919–2010), Truman Capote (1924–1984), Saul Bellow (1915–2005), Evan S. Connell (1924–2013), James Baldwin (1924–1987), Richard Yates (1926–1992), John Updike (1932–2009), Norman Mailer (1923–2007), Philip Roth (*1933), John Cheever (1912–1982), Wallace Stegner (1909–1993), William Styron (1925–2006), Toni Morrison (*1931), Cormac McCarthy (*1933), N. Scott Momaday (*1934), Annie Proulx (*11935), Don DeLillo (*1936), Raymond Carver (1938–1988), Joyce Carol Oates (*1938), Bharati Mukherjee (*1940), John Irving (*1942), Lee Smith (*1944), Jane Smiley (*1949), Jay McInerney (*1955), Elizabeth Strout (*1956), Junot Díaz (*1968) – Conclusion: Past as Future – Afterword: A Call to Contentment.

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Author Information

Lawrence E. Hussman is Professor Emeritus of English at Wright State University. He is the author of numerous scholarly essays and influential, highly acclaimed books focusing on the fiction of Theodore Dreiser and Frank Norris. Moreover, he has written two works of popular nonfiction, Counterterrorist and Danger’s Disciple. He holds a doctorate in English from the University of Michigan and, in addition to his academic career in the United States, he has taught American literature in Europe as a Fulbright scholar and as a visiting professor.

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