american dream
american literature
asian american literature
bret harte
california
canon
Category=DNT
classics
creation myths
eq_anthologies-novellas-short-stories
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_fiction
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
fiction
fifth chinese daughter
frank norris
hollywood novels
immigrant
indigenous literature
jack london
jade snow wong
john muir
josephine miles
literature
maria amparo ruiz de burton
mark twain
mary austin
mother lode
native american
poetry
primary sources
regional literature
steinbeck
western canon
western literature
william saroyan
women writers
Product details
- ISBN 9780520222120
- Weight: 998g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 05 Dec 2000
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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"The Literature of California" is a landmark publication - unmatched by any existing collection and distinguished by its breadth, variety of sources, and historical sweep. The editors have been refreshingly inclusive and imaginative in their selection: some of the writers are internationally known, others are anthologized here for the first time. The richness of material, ranging from Native American origin myths to Hollywood novels dissecting the American Dream; from the familiar voices of John Steinbeck, Jack London, and William Saroyan to the less-well-known narratives of Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton, Josephine Miles, and Jade Snow Wong - all of it captures the spirit and scope of the state itself. This first volume of the comprehensive two-volume anthology is divided into four parts. The first includes stories, legends, and songs of the indigenous tribes. The second section comprises letters, diaries, reports, and travel narratives that trace a century of exploration, discovery, and conquest.
Part III includes Mother Lode tales by Mark Twain and Bret Harte, the first signs of California poetry, the rise of narrative by California women, the nature writing of John Muir and Mary Austin, and some of the earliest prose from writers of Asian background, as well as the maturing fiction of Jack London and Frank Norris. Part IV traces the period between the World Wars, when California literature came fully into its own. A lively introduction contextualizes each section, and concise biographical material is included for each writer. Volume Two, to be published in 2007, concentrates on the second half of the twentieth-century, during which California became one of the most active literary regions in the world. A colossal contribution to the culture of the state, "The Literature of California" broadens our sense of this region's richness, both past and present, offering new ways of perceiving history, community, and oneself.
Jack Hicks teaches California literature and directs the Graduate Creative Program at the University of California, Davis. James D. Houston's seven books of fiction/nonfiction include Continental Drift (California, 1996) and The Last Paradise (1998), which won the American Book Award. Maxine Hong Kingston is the author of The Woman Warrior (1976), China Men (1980), and Tripmaster Monkey (1989). An early draft of her fourth novel, The Fifth Book of Peace, was destroyed in a fire; the restored version will be published in 2000-2001. Al Young's twenty books include African American literary anthologies, memoirs, collections of poetry, and the novels Sitting Pretty (1976) and Who Is Angelina? (California, 1996).
