Edgar Allan Poe mastered a variety of literary forms over the course of his brief and turbulent career. As a storyteller, Poe defied convention by creating Gothic tales of mystery, horror and suspense that remain widely popular today. This collection demonstrates how Poe's experience of early nineteenth-century American life fueled his iconoclasm and shaped his literary legacy. Rather than provide critical explications of his writings, each essay explores one aspect of Poe's immediate environment, using pertinent writings - verse, fiction, reviews and essays - to suit. Examining his geographical, social and literary contexts, as well as those created by the publishing industry and advances in science and technology, the essays paint an unprecedented portrait of Poe's life and times. Written for a wide audience, the collection will offer scholars and students of American literature, historians and general readers new insight into Poe's rich and complex work.

The Oxford Handbook of Early American Literature is a major new reference work that provides the best single-volume source of original scholarship on early American literature. Comprised of twenty-seven chapters written by experts in their fields, this work presents an authoritative, in-depth, and up-to-date assessment of a crucial area within literary studies.
Organized primarily in terms of genre, the chapters include original research on key concepts, as well as analysis of interesting texts from throughout colonial America. Separate chapters are devoted to literary genres of great importance at the time of their composition that have been neglected in recent decades, such as histories, promotion literature, and scientific writing. New interpretations are offered on the works of Benjamin Franklin, Jonathan Edwards and Dr. Alexander Hamilton while lesser known figures are also brought to light. Newly vital areas like print culture and natural history are given full treatment. As with other Oxford Handbooks, the contributors cover the field in a comprehensive yet accessible way that is suitable for those wishing to gain a good working knowledge of an area of study and where it's headed.

Details Lawrence's reception of Melville and reveals his underacknowledged role in the Melville Revival, while contributing to the history of the book and the study of the creative process. How Lawrence Read Melville is a highly focused account of D. H. Lawrence's discovery and reception of Herman Melville, from when he first read Moby-Dick as a young man to his final references to Melville in his late works. It shows Lawrence's initial reaction to Moby-Dick; how it led him to other works by Melville, namely Typee and Omoo; and how Melville affected Lawrence's critical and creative writing and shaped his philosophy. This book is a study of the creative process that shows how one great writer inspired another, but it also makes a major contribution to the history of the book and two of its subfields: the history of reading, and reception studies. By his death in 1891, Melville had been forgotten except by a small circle of English enthusiasts. That group put Lawrence onto Melville, whereupon he became a - until now largely unacknowledged - leader of the Melville Revival that rescued the great writer from obscurity. This Swiss army knife of a book will appeal to scholars and booklovers alike.

In Poe and the Printed Word Kevin Hayes reappraises the work of Edgar Allan Poe in the context of nineteenth-century print culture. Hayes examines how publishing opportunities of the time shaped Poe's development as a writer and explores the different methods of publication he employed as a showcase for his verse, criticism and fiction. Beginning with Poe's early exposure to the printed word, and ending with the ambitious magazine and book projects of his final years, this study is part biography, part literary history and part history of the book.

Most frequently regarded as a writer of the supernatural, Poe was actually among the most versatile of American authors, writing social satire, comic hoaxes, mystery stories, science fiction, prose poems, literary criticism and theory, and even a play. As a journalist and editor, Poe was closely in touch with the social, political, and cultural trends of nineteenth-century America. Recent scholarship has linked Poe's imaginative writings to the historical realities of nineteenth-century America, including to science and technology, wars and politics, the cult of death and bereavement, and, most controversially, to slavery and stereotyped attitudes toward women. Edgar Allan Poe: Beyond Gothicism presents a systematic approach to topical criticism of Poe, revealing a new portrait of Poe as an author who blended topics of intellectual and social importance and returned repeatedly to these ideas in different works and using different aesthetic strategies during his brief but highly productive career. Twelve essays point readers toward new ways of considering Poe's themes, techniques, and aesthetic preoccupations by looking at Poe in the context of landscapes, domestic interiors, slavery, prosody, Eastern cultures, optical sciences, Gothicism, and literary competitions, clubs, and reviewing.

Raging Bull (1980) represents American film making at its best. Since its initial release, the film has been called the greatest film of the 1980s, the greatest boxing film ever made, the greatest sports film ever made, and, indeed, one of the greatest films of all time. Raging Bull: A Cambridge Film Handbook presents the fullest critical appreciation of Scorsese's film available. The introduction tells the story of how the film came about, examining its inspirations and positioning Raging Bull within the history of cinema. Subsequent chapters, each written by contributors from different disciplines - film studies, literary history, theater history - discuss the film from a variety of perspectives. Though primarily directed toward undergraduate and graduate film courses, this collection should enhance appreciation of Raging Bull for all readers. Contributors to this volume have been issued a challenge: to write chapters that contain fundamental information for students, to include new information and ideas for seasoned film scholars, and to write in a jargon-free style that all readers can appreciate.

A History of Virginia Literature chronicles a story that has been more than four hundred years in the making. It looks at the development of literary culture in Virginia from the founding of Jamestown in 1607 to the twenty-first century. Divided into four main parts, this History examines the literature of colonial Virginia, Jeffersonian Virginia, Civil War Virginia, and modern Virginia. Individual chapters survey such literary genres as diaries, histories, letters, novels, poetry, political writings, promotion literature, science fiction, and slave narratives. Leading scholars also devote special attention to several major authors, including William Byrd of Westover, Thomas Jefferson, Ellen Glasgow, Edgar Allan Poe, and William Styron. This book is of pivotal importance to the development of American literature and of American studies more generally.

The story of the critical reception of Crane's great Civil War novel from its publication to the present, with particular attention to the effects of later wars on that reception. Stephen Crane's masterpiece The Red Badge of Courage was a sensation when it first appeared in 1895: many readers were astonished that this upstart, born after the Civil War, had written the single best novel on the subject. It remains one of the best books on the experience of war in American literature. Since its publication, The Red Badge has been repeatedly subjected to new scrutiny - not only by the passing of time and the changing of critical trends, but by every new war - to see if Crane's story still holds its power. So far, it has done so, not just in the eyes of literary critics but also among soldiers. The two world wars, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: all these have shaped the book's critical reception; and veterans, many of whom have commended Crane's insight into the experience of battle, have significantly affected how it has been read and understood. After World War I, Red Badge was closely associated with modernist novels written by those with wartime experience, Ernest Hemingway most importantly. After World War II and Korea, the book resonated with the manyveterans the G.I. Bill brought into the classroom to study American literature, some of whom became critics themselves. And during and after Vietnam and the other controversial wars that have followed, Crane's book has continuedto call forth a steady stream of critical response. Kevin J. Hayes's book is the story of the critical reception of The Red Badge both in and out of war.

A vivid snapshot of America's kaleidoscopic literary tradition, A Journey Through American Literature illuminates the authors, works, and events that have shaped our cultural heritage. Kevin J. Hayes charts this history through a series of approachable thematic chapters--Narrative Voice and the Short Story, the Drama of the Everyday, the Great American Novel--that reveal the richness of American literature while providing a compelling set of footholds with which to engage it. Among the topics covered are the role of travel and the symbolism of geography, characters and the importance of voice and dialect, self-definition and the American dream, new beginnings, and the role of memory. Hayes not only discusses the main canonical genres like poetry, drama, and the novel, but also looks at travel writing, autobiography, and frame tales. Key writers like Mark Twain, Ralph Ellison, Emily Dickinson, and Harriet Jacobs are central players in the drama while dozens more create a backdrop that gives this history depth. The book also features over 20 illustrations, a bibliography, and a chronology listing the key events and work in America's literary history.

A vivid snapshot of America's kaleidoscopic literary tradition, A Journey Through American Literature illuminates the authors, works, and events that have shaped our cultural heritage. Kevin J. Hayes charts this history through a series of approachable thematic chapters-Narrative Voice and the Short Story, the Drama of the Everyday, the Great American Novel-that reveal the richness of our literature while providing a compelling set of footholds with which to engage it. Among the topics covered are the role of travel and the symbolism of geography, characters and the importance of voice and dialect, self-definition and the American dream, new beginnings, and the role of memory. Hayes not only discusses the main canonical genres like poetry, drama, and the novel, but also looks at travel writing, autobiography, and frame tales. Key writers like Mark Twain, Ralph Ellison, Emily Dickinson, and Harriet Jacobs are central players in the drama while dozens more create a backdrop that gives this history depth. The book also features over 20 illustrations, a bibliography, and a chronology listing the key events and work in America's literary history.

When it comes to the Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton are generally singled out as the great minds of early America. Up until the present day, George Washington has never been taken seriously as an intellectual. Indeed, John Adams once snobbishly dismissed him as "too illiterate, unlearned, unread for his station and reputation." Yet Adams and most of the men who knew Washington were unaware of his regular devotion to reading as a program of self-improvement. Based on an exhaustive amount of research at the Library of Congress, the collections at Mount Vernon, and rare book archives scattered across the country, Kevin J. Hayes draws on juvenilia, letters, diaries, pamphlets, and the close to 1,000 books owned by Washington to reconstruct the active intellectual life that has gone largely unnoticed in conventional narratives of the first US president. Despite being a lifelong reader, Washington felt a sense of acute embarrassment about his relative lack of formal education and cultural sophistication, and in this lively literary biography, Hayes reconstructs how Washington worked tirelessly to improve his mind. Beginning with the primers, forgotten periodicals, conduct books, and classic eighteenth-century novels such as Tom Jones that shaped Washington's early life, Hayes engages with Washington's letters and journals, charting the many ways the books of his upbringing affected decisions before and during the Revolutionary War. The final section of the book covers the voluminous reading that occurred during Washington's presidency and his retirement at Mount Vernon. Throughout, Hayes also engages with Washington's writings as well as his readings, starting with The Journal of Major George Washington and going through his Farewell Address. The sheer breadth of titles under review here allow readers to glimpse Washington's views on foreign policy, economics, the law, art, slavery, marriage, and religion. Ultimately, The Books of George Washington's Life offers a startling new perspective on the mind of America's Father, uncovering the ideas that shaped his intellectual journey and, subsequently, the development of young America.

The sheer variety of Jefferson's many pursuits-he was an inventor, horticulturist, statesman, architect, and philosopher, among many other things-almost mask the singularity of his genius. But there is little doubt that our third president was also one of America's greatest intellectuals. This superb new biography focuses on Jefferson's intellectual and literary life. It follows Jefferson's education from adolescence to adulthood, examines his interests, and gives new interpretations of his writings. Early writings, including A Summary View of the Rights of British America, the Declaration of Independence, and Notes on the State of Virginia are analyzed in depth. Hayes also provides substantial coverage of Jefferson's professional, social, and literary activities in Paris and his travels through Europe. He devotes a chapter to the time he served as secretary of state and his publication, The Anas, an extraordinary behind-the-scenes look at George Washington's presidency. His tenure as vice-president and president is considered in light of the ideas and relationships that were most salient for him during those crucial years. Separate chapters treat his correspondence with John Adams, the formation of the Library of Congress and his retirement library, The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, The Autobiography, and the founding of the University of Virginia. Overall, the biography offers an intimate portrait of the life of the mind that Jefferson cultivated and dreamed of one day developing to its full potential while in retirement at Monticello.

The Future of the Book: Images of Reading in the American Utopian Novel looks at how turn-of-the-century utopian novelists imagined what the book would be like in the ideal future. This works examines many different aspects of book culture. One chapter looks at the utopian residential library, both its contents and its personal and social functions. In the ideal future, everyone has books in their home. Another chapter discusses the public library in utopia. Many of the innovations the utopian novelists imagined correct problems that real public libraries faced in late nineteenth-century America. In utopia, everyone knows how to use the public library. A third chapter shifts the discussion of books and reading from the place of consumption to the place of production, looking at the role of the author in utopia. This chapter also attempts to answer a vexing question: Can an ideal world produce great literature? The utopian novelists said yes, but the novels they imagined in the future make their conclusions more circumspect. A parallel chapter studies what the utopian newspaper would be like. Some utopian novelists projected alternative news media, foreseeing technology that anticipated television and the internet. The final chapter examines what printed books would look like in the ideal future, looking at graphic design, universal languages, and methods to assure that the books would be printed without censorship or editorial intrusion.

Thomas Jefferson was an avid book-collector, a voracious reader, and a gifted writer, a man who prided himself on his knowledge of classical and modern languages and whose marginal annotations include quotations from Euripides, Herodotus, and Milton. And yet there has never been a literary life of our most literary president. In The Road to Monticello, Kevin J. Hayes fills this important gap by offering a lively account of Jefferson's intellectual development, focusing on the books that exerted the most profound influence on his writing and thinking. Moving chronologically through Jefferson's life, Hayes reveals the full range and depth of Jefferson's literary passions, from the popular "small books" sold by traveling chapmen, such as The History of Fortunatas and The History of Tom Thumb that enthralled him as a child, to his lifelong love of Aesop's Fables and Robinson Crusoe, his engagement with Horace, Ovid, Virgil and other writers of classical antiquity, and his deep affinity with the melancholy verse of Ossian, the legendary third-century Gaelic warrior-poet. Drawing on Jefferson's letters, journals, and commonplace books, Hayes offers a wealth of new scholarship on the literary culture of colonial America, identifies previously unknown books held in Jefferson's libraries, reconstructs Jefferson's investigations of such different fields of knowledge as law, history, philosophy, and natural science and, most importantly, lays bare the ideas which informed the thinking of America's first great intellectual. "The world's leading expert on the book culture of early America, Kevin J. Hayes brings an unsurpassed knowledge and sensitivity to the story of Thomas Jefferson's life of the mind.... The Road to Monticello is intellectual biography in the grand manner." -Leo Lemay, Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Professor, University of Delaware "In what will surely be the definitive work on the subject, Hayes presents a scrupulously researched examination of the reading habits and thinking of our third President, effectively a biography of Thomas Jefferson's intellect over the course of his life." -Library Journal

Edgar Allan Poe continues to be a fascinating literary figure to students and scholars alike. Increasingly the focus of study pushes beyond the fright and amusement of his famous tales and seeks to locate the author within the culture of his time. In Poe and the Printed Word, Kevin Hayes explores the relationship between various facets of print culture and Poe's writings. His study provides a fuller picture of Poe's life and works by examining how the publishing opportunities of his time influenced his development as a writer. Hayes demonstrates how Poe employed different methods of publication as a showcase for his verse, criticism and fiction. Beginning with Poe's early exposure to the printed word, and ending with the ambitious magazine and book projects of his final years, this reappraisal of Poe's career provides an engaging account that is part biography, part literary history and part history of the book.

Despite its indifferent reception when it was first published in 1851, Moby Dick is now a central work in the American literary canon. This introduction offers readings of Melville's masterpiece, but it also sets out the key themes, contexts, and critical reception of his entire oeuvre. The first chapters cover Melville's life and the historical and cultural contexts. Melville's individual works each receive full attention in the third chapter, including Typee, Moby Dick, Billy Budd and the short stories. Elsewhere in the chapter different themes in Melville are explained with reference to several works: Melville's writing process, Melville as letter writer, Melville and the past, Melville and modernity, Melville's late writings. The final chapter analyses Melville scholarship from his day to ours. Kevin J. Hayes provides comprehensive information about Melville's life and works in an accessible and engaging book that will be essential for students beginning to read this important author.

Despite its indifferent reception when it was first published in 1851, Moby Dick is now a central work in the American literary canon. This introduction offers readings of Melville's masterpiece, but it also sets out the key themes, contexts, and critical reception of his entire oeuvre. The first chapters cover Melville's life and the historical and cultural contexts. Melville's individual works each receive full attention in the third chapter, including Typee, Moby Dick, Billy Budd and the short stories. Elsewhere in the chapter different themes in Melville are explained with reference to several works: Melville's writing process, Melville as letter writer, Melville and the past, Melville and modernity, Melville's late writings. The final chapter analyses Melville scholarship from his day to ours. Kevin J. Hayes provides comprehensive information about Melville's life and works in an accessible and engaging book that will be essential for students beginning to read this important author.

Raging Bull (1980) represents American film making at its best. Since its initial release, the film has been called the greatest film of the 1980s, the greatest boxing film ever made, the greatest sports film ever made, and, indeed, one of the greatest films of all time. Raging Bull: A Cambridge Film Handbook presents the fullest critical appreciation of Scorsese's film available. The introduction tells the story of how the film came about, examining its inspirations and positioning Raging Bull within the history of cinema. Subsequent chapters, each written by contributors from different disciplines - film studies, literary history, theater history - discuss the film from a variety of perspectives. Though primarily directed toward undergraduate and graduate film courses, this collection should enhance appreciation of Raging Bull for all readers. Contributors to this volume have been issued a challenge: to write chapters that contain fundamental information for students, to include new information and ideas for seasoned film scholars, and to write in a jargon-free style that all readers can appreciate.

This Companion consists of 14 essays by leading international scholars. They provide a series of new perspectives on one of the most enigmatic and controversial American writers. Specially tailored to the needs of undergraduates, the essays examine all of Poe's major writings, his poetry, short stores and criticism, and place his work in a variety of literary, cultural and political contexts. This volume will be of interest to scholars as well as students. It features a detailed chronology and a comprehensive guide to further reading.

This Companion consists of 14 essays by leading international scholars. They provide a series of new perspectives on one of the most enigmatic and controversial American writers. Specially tailored to the needs of undergraduates, the essays examine all of Poe's major writings, his poetry, short stores and criticism, and place his work in a variety of literary, cultural and political contexts. This volume will be of interest to scholars as well as students. It features a detailed chronology and a comprehensive guide to further reading.

Herman Melville in Context provides the fullest introduction in one volume to the multifaceted life and times of Herman Melville, a towering figure in nineteenth-century American and world literature. The book grounds the study of Herman Melville's writings to the world that influenced their composition, publication and recognition, making it a valuable resource to scholars, teachers, students and general readers. Bringing together contributions covering a wide range of topics, the collection of essays covers the geographical, social, cultural and literary contexts of Melville's life and works, as well as its literary reception. Herman Melville in Context will enable readers to approach Melville's writings with fuller insight, and to read and understand them in a way that approximates the way they were read and understood in his time.

When it comes to the Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton are generally considered the great minds of early America. George Washington, instead, is toasted with accolades regarding his solid common sense and strength in battle. Indeed, John Adams once snobbishly dismissed him as "too illiterate, unlearned, unread for his station and reputation." Yet Adams, as well as the majority of the men who knew Washington in his life, were unaware of his singular devotion to self-improvement. Based on a comprehensive amount of research at the Library of Congress, the collections at Mount Vernon, and rare book archives scattered across the country, Kevin J. Hayes corrects this misconception and reconstructs in vivid detail the active intellectual life that has gone largely unnoticed in conventional narratives of Washington. Despite being a lifelong reader, Washington felt an acute sense of embarrassment about his relative lack of formal education and cultural sophistication, and in this sparkling literary biography, Hayes illustrates just how tirelessly Washington worked to improve. Beginning with the primers, forgotten periodicals, conduct books, and classic eighteenth-century novels such as Tom Jones that shaped Washington's early life, Hayes studies Washington's letters and journals, charting the many ways the books of his upbringing affected decisions before and during the Revolutionary War. The final section of the book covers the voluminous reading that occurred during Washington's presidency and his retirement at Mount Vernon. Throughout, Hayes examines Washington's writing as well as his reading, from The Journal of Major George Washington through his Farewell Address. The sheer breadth of titles under review here allow readers to glimpse Washington's views on foreign policy, economics, the law, art, slavery, marriage, and religion-and how those views shaped the young nation.. Ultimately, this sharply written biography offers a fresh perspective on America's Father, uncovering the ideas that shaped his intellectual journey and, subsequently, the development of America.

In 1887 a twenty-one-year-old newspaperman named George Nellis (1865-1948) rode a bicycle from Herkimer, New York, to San Francisco in seventy-two days, surpassing the transcontinental bicycle record by several weeks. He averaged fifty miles a day pedalling a fifty-two-inch, high-wheeled Columbia Expert "ordinary" bicycle with a tubular steel frame and hard rubber tires, and he lost twenty-three pounds in the process. He bicycled ever westward through sleepy villages, farmlands, and growing cities of the rapidly changing nation and trekked across uninhabited stretches of prairies and mountains that marked its shrinking frontier. Following his daily ten-hour rides, Nellis sat down and wrote letters about his adventures to his hometown newspapers and a national cycling magazine to finance his cross-country journey. Nellis's epic journey over dirt paths, muddy roads, and occasional railroad ties was plagued by terrible weather, frightening experiences, and odd encounters; yet it was also enriched by breathtaking natural wonders and the generous spirit of many people he met. He nearly drowned in a flash flood, was chased by a furious bull, killed a coyote that accosted him one night, fell victim to mirages in Utah's Great Salt Desert, narrowly missed a tremendous fire that wiped out half of a California town only hours after he had left, and witnessed a horrifying accident on a train track. Nellis also managed to meet the legendary baseball player A. G. Spalding in Chicago, take in professional baseball games in Detroit and Chicago, participate in several bicycle races in Omaha, attend an opera in Cheyenne, Wyoming, enjoy a circus, and eat over two dozen bananas in one sitting in Osceola, Indiana. Drawing on Nellis's letters and media coverage of the trip, Kevin J. Hayes recreates in compelling detail this amazing trip and the many ordinary and extraordinary faces of late-nineteenth-century America that were once revealed to a young bicyclist. Purchase the audio edition.