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American Mythologies: Essays on Contemporary Literature

Online ISBN:
9781846312540
Print ISBN:
9780853237365
Publisher:
Liverpool University Press
Book

American Mythologies: Essays on Contemporary Literature

William Blazek (ed.),
William Blazek
(ed.)
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Michael K. Glenday (ed.)
Michael K. Glenday
(ed.)
Find on
Published:
1 May 2005
Online ISBN:
9781846312540
Print ISBN:
9780853237365
Publisher:
Liverpool University Press

Abstract

In its more than three decades of existence, the discipline of American studies has been reliably unreliable, its boundaries and assumptions forever shifting as it continuously repositions itself to better address the changing character of American life, literature, and culture. This book looks at the current reinvention of American studies, a reinvention that has questioned the whole notion of what ‘American’ – let alone ‘American studies’ – means. The chapters range widely in considering these questions, from the effect of Muhammad Ali on Norman Mailer's writings about boxing, to the interactions of myth and memory in the fictions of Jayne Anne Phillips, to the conflicted portrayal of the American West in Cormac McCarthy's novels. Four chapters in the collection focus on Native American authors, including Leslie Marmon Silko and Gerald Vizenor, while another considers Louise Erdrich's novels in the context of Ojibwa myth.

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