Rethinking the category of aesthetics in light of recent
developments in literary theory and social criticism, the
contributors to this volume showcase the interpretive possibilities
available to those who bring politics, culture, ideology, and
conceptions of identity into their critiques. Essays combine close
readings of individual works and authors with more theoretical
discussions of aesthetic theory and its relation to American
literature. In their introduction, Weinstein and Looby argue that
aesthetics never left American literary critique. Instead, the
essay casts the current "return to aesthetics" as the natural
consequence of shortcomings in deconstruction and new historicism,
which led to a reconfiguration of aesthetics. Subsequent essays
demonstrate the value and versatility of aesthetic considerations
in literature, from eighteenth-century poetry to twentieth-century
popular music. Organized into four groups-politics, form, gender,
and theory-contributors revisit the canonical works of Henry James,
Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Stephen Crane, introduce the overlooked
texts of Constance Fenimore Woolson and Earl Lind, and unpack the
complexities of the music of The Carpenters. Deeply rooted in an
American context, these essays explore literature's aesthetic
dimensions in connection to American liberty and the formation of
political selfhood. Contributors include Edward Cahill, Ivy G.
Wilson, June Ellison, Dorri Beam, Christopher Castiglia,
Christopher Looby, Wendy Steiner, Cindy Weinstein, Trish Loughran,
Jonathan Freedman, Elisa New, Dorothy Hale, Mary Esteve, Eric Lott,
Sianne Ngai
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