Book contents
- The New Nineteenth-Century American Literary Studies
- Twenty-First-Century Critical Revisions
- The New Nineteenth-Century American Literary Studies
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Harriet Wilson’s Lessons
- Chapter 2 Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and the New Civil War Literary Studies
- Chapter 3 The Global South
- Chapter 4 Making It New
- Chapter 5 Law, Nineteenth-Century American Literary Studies, and the Black Formalist Tradition
- Chapter 6 Conjuring Nineteenth-Century Black Environmentalism
- Chapter 7 Transitioning Queer Studies in Nineteenth-Century American Literature
- Chapter 8 New Materialisms and Scalar Collapse in Nineteenth-Century American Literary Studies
- Chapter 9 Nineteenth-Century Spanish-Language Textbooks and US American Literature
- Chapter 10 The Political Functions of Reconstruction Literature, Then and Now
- Chapter 11 Echoes from the Past, Archives of the Future
- Chapter 12 Beyond the Secularization Thesis
- Chapter 13 A Periodical Masquerade
- Chapter 14 Tasteful Sketches and Tasteless Ambition
- Chapter 15 Grounding Nineteenth-Century Studies in Indigenous Studies
- Chapter 16 Cultures of Data
- Chapter 17 Rethinking Critical Geographies
- Chapter 18 Rethinking Black Speculative Fiction
- Chapter 19 The Black Pacific
- Chapter 20 “Unfeeling Stone”
- Index
Introduction
Taking Stock and New Directions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 January 2025
Book contents
- The New Nineteenth-Century American Literary Studies
- Twenty-First-Century Critical Revisions
- The New Nineteenth-Century American Literary Studies
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Harriet Wilson’s Lessons
- Chapter 2 Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and the New Civil War Literary Studies
- Chapter 3 The Global South
- Chapter 4 Making It New
- Chapter 5 Law, Nineteenth-Century American Literary Studies, and the Black Formalist Tradition
- Chapter 6 Conjuring Nineteenth-Century Black Environmentalism
- Chapter 7 Transitioning Queer Studies in Nineteenth-Century American Literature
- Chapter 8 New Materialisms and Scalar Collapse in Nineteenth-Century American Literary Studies
- Chapter 9 Nineteenth-Century Spanish-Language Textbooks and US American Literature
- Chapter 10 The Political Functions of Reconstruction Literature, Then and Now
- Chapter 11 Echoes from the Past, Archives of the Future
- Chapter 12 Beyond the Secularization Thesis
- Chapter 13 A Periodical Masquerade
- Chapter 14 Tasteful Sketches and Tasteless Ambition
- Chapter 15 Grounding Nineteenth-Century Studies in Indigenous Studies
- Chapter 16 Cultures of Data
- Chapter 17 Rethinking Critical Geographies
- Chapter 18 Rethinking Black Speculative Fiction
- Chapter 19 The Black Pacific
- Chapter 20 “Unfeeling Stone”
- Index
Summary
Americanist literary criticism has long emphasized the “new” as moments of rupture with traditional modes of interpretation. From New Historicism to the New Americanists, this introduction takes stock of some of these developments over the last twenty years, providing at once an overview and ideas about new directions that the field of nineteenth-century Americanist literary criticism might take in the future. In particular, it highlights the importance of critical modes that focus on bodies and sexualities, move away from the nation-state, adjust the scales of analysis, and reconsider aesthetics.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025