Research Catalog

Title

The American dream gone astray : critical realism in American fiction, 1920-1940. / Jürg P. Keller.

Author

Keller, Jürg P.

Publication

Bern [Switzerland] ; New York : Peter Lang, c1995.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

195 p.; 23 cm.

Series Statement

Europäische Hochschulschriften. Reihe XIV, Angelsächsische Sprache und Literatur ; Bd. 289

Uniform Title

Europäische Hochschulschriften. Reihe XIV, Angelsächsische Sprache und Literatur Bd. 289.

Subject

• 1900-1999
• American fiction > 20th century > History and criticism
• Realism in literature
• Authors, American > 20th century > Political and social views
• Literature and society > United States > History > 20th century
• National characteristics, American, in literature
• Social problems in literature
• Success in literature
• United States > Intellectual life > 20th century

Genre/Form

• Criticism, interpretation, etc.
• History

Note

• Originally published as Ph. D. dissertation by the Faculty of Arts of the University of Zurich, 1994.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 189-195).

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

• Criticism of the American way of life : an introduction -- The American dream as a non-American topic of research -- The Period and the authors -- The Historical background : events and interpretations : the Civil War and its heritage : Big business and union activities -- American imperialism and the Muckrakers -- Woodrow Wilson and the First World War : "Keep us out of war" -- "Make the world safe for democracy" -- The "Golden twenties" and the great depression : "Back to corruption" -- The Lean years being, 1928-1932 -- F.D.R. and his "New Deal" : State one : the hundred days -- Stage two : social reforms.
• The Literary Situation : Contributions to the American Novel 1865-1940 : The Realists ; The Naturalists ; The Muckrackers ; The Lost generation ; The Critical realism of the thirties ; Mainstreamers and outsiders.
• The American Dream : Idea vs Reality : The Discovery of American -- First settlers and colonies -- The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution -- The Transcendentalists dream -- The Western Myth -- Memorable individuals, types and sayings : Benjamin Franklin ; Thomas Jefferson ; Horatio Alger ; The Robber Barons : John D. Rockefeller ; Andrew Carnegie ; John P. Morgan ; Fronter heroes ; William James and John Dewey ; Presidents : Abraham Lincoln ; Theodore Roosevelt ; Herbert Hoover ; Franklin D. Roosevelt ; Ronald W. Reagan.
• The Critical Realists : Dream vs reality -- Historicity and Veracity in Critical Realism -- The Gospel of Wealth -- F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Valley of Ashes -- Theodore Dreiser and the race for the top -- Nathanael West and the dismantling of an Alger hero -- The Rich, the desperate and the ugly -- Have You See Their Faces? : Ernest Hemingway and the limited possibilities -- Tom Kromer and the long wait for improvement -- Horace McCoy and the mercy killing -- A Marathon dance is like a bullfight.
• The American Adam and His Family : John Steinbeck and the American epic -- Erskine Caldwell and the American poorhouse -- Sinclair Lewis and the American everyman -- From puzzlement to discontent to rebellion and wrath -- Overall evaluation of the literary evidence -- Afterword : Outlook and conclusion, the American dream today -- A Check- list : Novels of critical realism 1920-1940.

ISBN

390675393X

OCLC

• 54205759
• SCSB-11737655

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library