The Cambridge Companion to American Literature of the 1930s

Offers a timely introduction to the intersection of radical politics and American literature in the period of the Great Depression.

William Solomon (Edited by)

9781108429184, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 20 September 2018

292 pages
23.6 x 15.6 x 1.9 cm, 0.61 kg

This Companion offers a compelling survey of American literature in the 1930s. These thirteen new essays by accomplished scholars in the field provide re-examinations of crucial trends in the decade: the rise of the proletarian novel; the intersection of radical politics and experimental aesthetics; the documentary turn; the rise of left-wing theatres; popular fictional genres; the impact of Marxist thought on African-American historical writing; the relation of modernist prose to mass entertainment. Placing such issues in their political and economic contexts, this Companion constitutes an excellent introduction to a vital area of critical and scholarly inquiry. This collection also functions as a valuable reference guide to Depression-era cultural practice, furnishing readers with a chronology of important historical events in the decade and crucial publication dates, as well as a wide-ranging bibliography for those interested in reading further into the field.

Introduction William Solomon
1. Marxist literary debates in the 1930s Alan Wald
2. Aesthetics and politics of the depression era Matthew Stratton
3. Architects of history: politics and experimentalism in American writing of the 1930s Catherine Morley
4. Radical politics and experimental poetics in the 1930s Ruth Jennison
5. 'I plan to send you some pictures': documenting the 1930s in cold blood Paula Rabinowitz
6. Songs of social significance: theatre of the depression era Ilka Saal
7. Literature and labor Laura Hapke
8. Transgression and redemption in the 1930s Thomas J. Ferraro
9. The 'race radical thrust of ethnic proletarian literature in the 1930s Chris Vials
10. African American historical writing in the depression Nathaniel Mills
11. Popular fiction in the 1930s Jennifer Haytock and William Solomon
12. Performance and politics in the 1930s William Solomon
13. Remembering the 1930s in contemporary historical fiction Caren Irr.

Subject Areas: Literary companions, book reviews & guides [DSRC], Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers [DSK], Literary studies: from c 1900 - [DSBH]