American Literature, American Culture

American Literature, American Culture is the first anthology of American literary criticism to appear in many years. Its focus is the tradition of American literary criticism as cultural critique and includes essays which debate the social and political importance of American writing. These documents draw from the early years of the republic, through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Their shared concerns are the terms on which a national literature might be based, the complications of gender and class and the challenges posed by race in identifying a national cultural identity. The anthology also features a substantial selection of recent essays.