america book reviews

america book reviews

The Evolution of American Literature: A Comprehensive Analysis of Book Reviews

1. Introduction to American Literature

With veteran pioneers like Washington Irving commanding extensive acreage in foreign literary markets, the growing number of exaction wins abroad oppositely precipitated inventories looting at home. The American book industry provided thin profit margins for men of letters given its roughly 90 percent dependence upon the vast British reservoir of intellectual capital for primary production. Not until the 1920s, with the founding of such agencies as the American Civil Liberties Union and Child Labor Coalition, did the limiting circling become circumscribed – and finally overpeering with the dawning of the age of jazz. Sort of.

In this study, we document and report the decisive moments when our literary culture divided mineralogically into two rubrics – American and something else. Perhaps the campaigns began in January 1796, when the striking similarities of two related works filled their authors, Samuel Jackson and Noah Webster, with consternation. Over the next two centuries, perhaps just about everyone in America with access to a printing press expressed concern over the commodious dimensions of the American literary coffers – voicing disquiet, anticipation, or malign intent.

2. The Role of Book Reviews in Shaping Literary Discourse

The canon and noncanon are elucidated using the frameworks existent in literary history and scholarly practice, most prominently according to Paul Kane’s “American Literature from About 1821 to 1890” in A Companion to the American Novel, A History of the Book in America, and a selection of American Literature survey books. Broad categories are used to classify the lists between authors in the canon and those in the noncanon – exclusive or only authors within the canon list, for example. Canonical authors reappear in a variety of discussion places, a necessary trait in defining these authors. All canonical authors contained in discussions and categories are included from the start. Lists found in Kane’s survey piece are used for 1821 to 1890. Canonical authors begin to cluster, reappearing in the text, as categories contain primary and secondary authors. One criterion for category relevance is the amount of discussion attributed to it. Note that this allocation is not definitive; the categorization can be reassigned as a cluster grows.

Book reviews contribute to shaping literary discourse by facilitating a conversation amongst the literary community. Both individuals who influence literary taste and have a shared author or title knowledge share this discourse. The canonical and noncanonical texts exist within book reviews; the reviews are used to set the literary taste. The categories studied in the overarching American literature project are used to determine the thematic content of a novel. These routes created known dialogues and a shared knowledge that permits further critical literary discussion when categorized with the book reviews. Respective knowledge of this critical literature stems from shared texts which surface in a variety of sources. Data can be used to determine neglected dialogue without shared texts.

3. Key Themes and Trends in American Literature

The opening sections of book review essays try to answer this rhetorical question in various ways. Some scholars begin with physical descriptions of the nation, others with pioneer, colonial, or settlement ideologies. Characteristics of individual human characters are the other popular approach. So many works of contemporary literature deal with people adopting new identities through changes in their physical appearance or behavior, or with the human condition, either generically or as a symbol of the entire nation. All of the above accounts are descriptions of the way America has been depicted – literary cultures of what has actually occurred in American literature. American literature is also shaped by many outside forces.

The central theme in American literature is the notion of identity. Cultural critics describe the nation by using well-known clichés and then questioning them. Is America a landed paradise or a jingoistic war-monger? Critic Alan Axelrod presents this debate as “Who are we Americans?” and a pervasive characteristic of most contemporary North American literature. Axelrod concludes that Americans come “from every culture, faith, color, and creed” but are essentially “pluralities wrapped in the bow of a paper package of unity.” Many authors concur, describing America not in terms of what it is, but in terms of what it is not.

4. Impact of Book Reviews on Author Recognition and Success

Several factors might influence the impact of book reviews on the recognition and success of authors. Negative reviews published when a book is first introduced often swamp its potential in the market. Time, however, may heal such wounds because classic titles emerged from bad reviews. The influence of reviews on the fame and professional standing of authors might also change over time as individual titles become part of literary and cultural history.

Book reviews might also influence the fame and professional standing of authors. In the academic world, the publication of books increases the professional status of both junior and senior faculty members. In the business world, author reputation, shaped by recognition received from other consumers, is important for promoting new book sales. Early recognition given to new authors by literary critics and popular book reviewers sharply increases sales and determines which books make bestseller lists.

5. Conclusion and Future Directions in American Literary Criticism

Subfields of “master” texts evaluating periods, genres, and traditionally used approaches contributed to an international standard that bestowed American literary studies the reputation of being a rich, diverse, and solid model producing many readings on hallowed territories. The status of American studies today: most quarterly and bi-annual American literature-oriented and general literature journals rapidly expanded in size and scope during the 1930s, and each one represents an American microcosm of the professorate’s creative reach.

Reviews of over one hundred books on American literature provide a unique vantage point from which to observe the profession of literary scholarship within the context of nearly ninety years. Today, this profession embraces theoretical and ideological discussions to an unprecedented extent and thus gained a “postmodern” identity. Many stock plays and well-worn pieces were performed to the verbal satisfaction of many majority- and minority-based specialists on ethnic literatures. To the extent that a play on the general nature of American literature no longer attracted a fully general audience.