| Description |
336 pages, 48 pages of color plates : illustrations (some color) ; 27 cm |
| Contents |
Introduction: Seasonal Cycles and Sequences -- Ch. 1. From Antiquity to the Eighteenth Century in Europe -- Ch. 2. The American Reception and Adaptation of the Four Seasons Motif -- Ch. 3. Nostalgia, Nationalism, and the American Seasons, 1854-1914 -- Ch. 4. American Transitions: The Seasonal Sense of Place, Time, and Imagery -- Ch. 5. Nature Writers, Reader Response, and the Ambivalence of Urban America -- Ch. 6. The Four Seasons and American Popular Culture: Calendars and Consumerism -- Ch. 7. The Four Seasons in Contemporary American Art and Poetry -- Conclusion: Science and the Seasons, Retrospection, and Reprise |
| Summary |
"In this book, Michael Kammen traces the appeal of the four seasons motif in American popular culture and fine arts from the seventeenth century to the present. Its symbolism has evolved through the years, Kammen explains, serving as a metaphor for the human life cycle or religious faith, expressing nostalgia for rural life, and sometimes praising seasonal beauty in the diverse American landscape as the most spectacular in the world. Kammen also highlights artists' and writers' shift in attention from the glories of seasonal peaks to the dynamics of seasonal transitions as American life continued to accelerate and change through the twentieth century." "Few symbols have been as pervasive, meaningful, and symptomatic in the human experience as the four seasons, and as Kammen shows, in its American context the annual cycle has been an abundant and abiding source of inspiration in the nation's cultural history."--BOOK JACKET |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages [283]-320) and index |
| Subject |
Art, American.
|
|
Seasons -- Social aspects -- United States.
|
|
Popular culture -- United States.
|
|
Art, American -- History
|
|
American literature -- History and criticism.
|
|
Seasons in art.
|
|
Seasons in literature.
|
|
Seasons -- Social aspects -- Europe -- History.
|
| SUBJECT |
United States -- Civilization.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85139934
|
|
United States -- Social life and customs. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140527
|
|
United States -- Intellectual life.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140363
|
| LC no. |
2003013734 |
| ISBN |
080782836X cased |
|
