Title Traces of gold : California's natural resources and the claim to realism in western American literature / Nicolas S. Witschi

Published Tuscaloosa : University of Alabama Press, ©2002

Click on the following:
EBSCO eBooks
ProQuest Ebook Central

Copies

Description 1 online resource (x, 218 pages) Series Studies in American literary realism and naturalism Studies in American literary realism and naturalism. Contents Acknowledgments; Introduction: The Genres of Realism; 1. Bret Harte and the Gold Rush Claim to Realism; 2. John of the Mines: Muir's Picturesque Rewrite of the Gold Rush; 3. "Why, Have You Got the Atlantic Monthly Out Here?" W.D. Howells, Realism, and the Idea of the West; 4. 1902: The Generic Imagination in Transition; 5. "I Know What Is Best for You": Post-Howellsian Realism in Mary Austin's Desert Narratives; 6. Hard-Boiled Nature: California, Detective Fiction, and the Limits of Representation; Notes; Works Cited; Index Summary Broadening our understanding of what constitutes "realism," Nicolas Witschi artfully demonstrates the linkage of American literary realism to the texts, myths, and resources of the American West. From Gold Rush romances to cowboy Westerns, from hard-boiled detective thrillers to nature writing, the American West has long been known mainly through hackneyed representations in popular genres. But a close look at the literary history of the West reveals a number of writers who claim that their works represent the "real" West. As Nicolas Witschi shows, writers as varied as Bret Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 195-212) and index Notes English Print version record Subject American literature -- California -- History and criticism Authors, American -- Homes and haunts -- California Natural resources -- California Realism in literature. Nature in literature. LITERARY CRITICISM -- American -- General. American literature Authors, American -- Homes and haunts Intellectual life Literature Natural resources Nature in literature Realism in literature SUBJECT California -- Intellectual life California -- In literature Subject California Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc. Form Electronic book ISBN 9780817313715 0817313710

  Permalink