The Cambridge Companion to the Literature of the American West

by Steven Frye (Editor)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781107095373
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	04/26/2016
Series:	Cambridge Companions to Literature
Pages:	286
Product dimensions:	6.18(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.83(d)

About the Author

Steven Frye is Professor of English at California State University, Bakersfield. He is President of the Cormac McCarthy Society, editor of The Cambridge Companion to Cormac McCarthy, and author of Understanding Cormac McCarthy and Understanding Larry McMurtry.

Table of Contents

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.

Editorial Reviews

'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

From the Publisher