Reading the American Novel 1865-1914 (Reading the Novel)

Reading the American Novel 1865-1914......Page 1
Contents......Page 9
Preface......Page 11
Acknowledgments......Page 17
Introduction......Page 21
1 Toward the "Great American Novel": Romance and Romanticism in the Age of Realism......Page 29
2 Of Realism and Reality: Definitions and Contexts......Page 45
3 Dramas of the Broken Teacup: American "Quiet" Realism......Page 61
4 The Nature of Naturalism: Definitions and Backgrounds......Page 75
5 Implacable Nature, Household Tragedy, and Epic Romance......Page 93
6 Frank Norris: The Beast Within......Page 111
7 The Rocking Horse Winners: Theodore Dreiser and Urban Naturalism......Page 129
8 Subjective Realism: Stephen Crane's Impressionist Fictions......Page 145
9 Impressions of War: The Interior Battlefield......Page 161
10 Sense and Sensibility: Sentimental Domesticity and "New Woman's Fiction"......Page 177
11 Domestic Feminism: The Problematic Louisa May Alcott......Page 199
12 "All the Happy Endings": Marriage, Insanity, and Suicide......Page 215
13 Vulgarians at the Gate: Edith Wharton and the Collapse of Gentility......Page 235
14 Tea-Table as Jungle: Henry James and "The Psychopathology of Everyday Life"......Page 255
15 Economies of Pain: W. D. Howells......Page 281
16 The "Gilded Age": Genteel Critics and Militant Muckrakers......Page 303
17 What Is An American? Regionalism and Race......Page 319
18 The Territory Ahead: Emerging African American Voices......Page 343
19 The "Dream of a Republic": War, Reconstruction, and Future History......Page 363
20 At the Modernist Margin: Mark Twain......Page 387
Bibliographical Resources......Page 407
Index......Page 441