The Cambridge Companion to the Literature of the American West

This Companion provides a comprehensive introduction to the literature of the American West, one of the most vibrant and diverse literary traditions.

Steven Frye (Edited by)

9781107095373, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 26 April 2016

286 pages, 6 b/w illus.
23.5 x 15.7 x 2.1 cm, 0.53 kg

'The Cambridge Companion to the Literature of the American West offers precisely what the Companions are meant to offer - a rich compendium of contextual, historical, and thematic approaches to literatures under discussion, in this case, literatures of the American West. This book, a straightforward, usable, and accessible volume, will be indispensable for undergraduate, graduate, and emerging scholars on the topic, and advanced scholars will find the pleasures of concise and thoughtful overviews here as well.' Lydia R. Cooper, Cercles

This Companion provides a comprehensive introduction to one of the most vibrant and expansive traditions in world literature. The American West occupies a unique place in the global imagination, and the literature it produced transcends the category of 'region' in theme and form. Written by prominent international scholars, the essays cover a diverse group of key texts and authors, including major figures in the Native American, Hispanic, Asian American, and African American movements. Treatments range from environmental and ecopoetic to transnational and transcultural, reflecting the richness of the field. This volume places the literature in deep historical context and features a chronology and a bibliography for further reading. It will be an essential guide for students of literature of the American West and of American literature generally.

1. Introduction Steven Frye
2. Transnational Wests: the literature of Spanish exploration M. Carmen Gomez-Galisteo
3. Western folk traditions: from colonization to Mark Twain and the San Francisco Circle John Dudley
4. Settlement, promise, and catastrophe in the middle regions Daniel Worden
5. Gender and the literature of expansion Cathryn Halverson
6. The American West and the literature of environmental consciousness Susan Kollin
7. California in late settlement Pierre Lagayette
8. The West in modern verse Gioia Woods
9. Noir fiction and the Western city Lee Clark Mitchell
10. The Western and film Stacey Peebles
11. The Native American Renaissance Nicholas Monk
12. Chicana/o literature in the West Rafael Perez-Torres
13. Mestiza consciousness of La Frontera/Borderlands in Sandra Cisneros and Helena Maria Viramontes Linda Rader Overman
14. The West and the Asian American experience Marguerite Nguyen
15. African-American literature and the early West Eric Gardner
16. Wallace Stegner and the literature of historical memory Robert Thacker
17. Cormac McCarthy: narratives and borders Steven Frye.

Subject Areas: Literary companions, book reviews & guides [DSRC], Literary studies: from c 1900 - [DSBH], Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 [DSBF], Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800 [DSBD]