The Cambridge Companion to Early American Literature

This book introduces readers to early American literary studies through original readings of key literary texts.

Bryce Traister (Edited by)

9781108840040, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 25 November 2021

300 pages
23.6 x 15.8 x 2.2 cm, 0.65 kg

'This volume will broaden the horizons of even experienced scholars while orienting others to a field recently and radically transformed … Essential.' A. T. Hale, Choice

This Companion covers American literary history from European colonization to the early republic. It provides a succinct introduction to the major themes and concepts in the field of early American literature, including new world migration, indigenous encounters, religious and secular histories, and the emergence of American literary genres. This book guides readers through important conceptual and theoretical issues, while also grounding these issues in close readings of key literary texts from early America.

Introduction: narratives of early America old and new Bryce Traister
Part I. How to Read Early America: 1. How to read things that weren't written down in early America Matt Cohen
2. How to read the natural world Molly Farrell
3. How to read early American poetry Amy Morris
4. How to read gender Laura Stevens
5. How to read an early American novel Marion Rust
6. How to read democracy in early America Dana Nelson
Part II. Readings in Early America: 7. Accident, disaster, and trauma: shattered in early America Kathleen Donegan
8. Settler Kitsch: the legacies of Puritanism in America Jonathan Beecher Field
9. Like a prayer: the anti-slavery petition in the era of revolution Paul Downes
10. Varieties of bondage in the early Atlantic Ramesh Mallipeddi
11. The erotics of early America Sandra Slater
Part III. Early American Places: 12. Indigenous colonial America Caroline Wigginton
13. Colonial Latin America Allison Bigelow
14. The colonial Pacific Michelle Burnham
15. Caribbean America Cassander Smith.

Subject Areas: History of the Americas [HBJK], Literary companions, book reviews & guides [DSRC], Literary reference works [DSR], Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800 [DSBD]