The Fabric of American Literary Realism

This volume traces the connections between the increased economic importance of the garment industry with the advent of a powerful movement towards literary realism in American fiction. With chapters on Henry James, Theodor Dreiser, Abraham Cahan, Anzia Yezierska, and Willa Cather, this work examines the development of the American ideal from the 'homespun' to the 'ready made', and explains how that cultural and psychological change appeared in the literature of the nation.