 | The Vast and Terrible Drama A broad treatment of the cultural, social, political, and literary under-pinnings of an entire period and movement in American letters Themes addressed include the traditionally close connection between French naturalism and American literary naturalism; relationships between the movement and the romance tradition in American literature, as well as with utopian fictions of the 19th century; narrative strategies employed by the key writers; the dominant naturalist theme of determinism; and textual readings that provide broad examples of the role of the reader. By examining these and other aspects of American literary naturalism, Link counters a century of criticism that has perhaps viewed literary naturalism too narrowly, as a subset of realism, bound by the conventions of realistic narration. Eric Carl Link is Hugh Shott Professor of English at North Georgia College & State University and coauthor of Neutral Ground: New Traditionalism and the American Romance Controversy. |
