Synopses & Reviews
How is a classic book to be defined? How much time must elapse before a work may be judged a "classic"? And among all the works of American literature, which deserve the designation? In this provocative new book Denis Donoghue essays to answer these questions. He presents his own short list of "relative" classics works whose appeal may not be universal but which nonetheless have occupied an important place in our culture for more than a century. These books have survived the abuses of time neglect, contempt, indifference, willful readings, excesses of praise, and hyperbole.
Donoghue bestows the term classic on just five American works: Melville's Moby-Dick, Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Thoreau's Walden, Whitman's Leaves of Grass, and Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Examining each in a separate chapter, he discusses how the writings have been received and interpreted, and he offers his own contemporary readings, suggesting, for example, that in the post-9/11 era, Moby-Dick may be rewardingly read as a revenge tragedy. Donoghue extends an irresistible invitation to open the pages of these American classics again, demonstrating with wit and acuity how very much they have to say to us now.
Review
"[A]n urbanely engaging guide to critical commentary and disputes, old and new." Christian Science Monitor
Synopsis
An eminent liteary critic enumerates and explores five American classics
How is a classic book to be defined? How much time must elapse before a work may be judged a "classic"? And among all the works of American literature, which deserve the designation? In this provocative new book Denis Donoghue essays to answer these questions. He presents his own short list of "relative" classics--works whose appeal may not be universal but which nonetheless have occupied an important place in our culture for more than a century. These books have survived the abuses of time--neglect, contempt, indifference, willful readings, excesses of praise, and hyperbole.
Donoghue bestows the term classic on just five American works: Melville's Moby-Dick, Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Thoreau's Walden, Whitman's Leaves of Grass, and Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Examining each in a separate chapter, he discusses how the writings have been received and interpreted, and he offers his own contemporary readings, suggesting, for example, that in the post-9/11 era, Moby-Dick may be rewardingly read as a revenge tragedy. Donoghue extends an irresistible invitation to open the pages of these American classics again, demonstrating with wit and acuity how very much they have to say to us now.
Synopsis
An eminent liteary critic enumerates and explores five American classics
Synopsis
Among all the works of American literature, which deserve the designation classic”? An eminent literary critic names five works
Moby-Dick, The Scarlet Letter, Walden, Leaves of Grass, and Adventures of Huckleberry Finnand offers contemporary readings of them, demonstrating why they are important and how very much they have to say.
About the Author
Denis Donoghue is University Professor and Henry James Professor of English and American Letters at New York University. He is the author of
The Practice of Reading and
Words Alone: The Poet T. S. Eliot, published by Yale University Press.
CITATION: "Donoghue's great gifts of intelligence and scholarship, judgment and wit are all on display here in first-rate form. Like the American classics he analyzes, this book makes powerful claims on our attention."-Stephen Railton, University of Virginia
(Stephen Railton)
CITATION: "Donoghue's confrontations with five classic American authors are fresh and provocative-not least in their willingness to link his writers' concerns with current political issues. A must read for all Americanists."-Joel Porte, author of Consciousness and Culture: Emerson and Thoreau Reviewed
(Joel Porte)