Love and Death in the American Novel Book

At first I was put off by Fiedler's overblown, didactic voice, but then I found him a bit more entertaining--and wondered if he was fully serious with his tone. His constant categorizations of 'high-brow,' 'middlebrow,' and 'lowbrow' (he even uses 'low middle brow' a few times)came across as elitist--until I realized he was fully willing and able to consider the low brow stuff as an honest part of his criticsm. His thesis, that American literature has difficulty dealing honestly with human sexual activity and is obsessed with violence, is supported by a broad survey of iconic American fiction. I don't think this view is necessarily accurate today, especially regarding how contemporary writers deal with sex today, but it is surprising how obsessed with violence and death our literature (and culture in general)is. Fiedler points out in part of his analysis how the budding sexuality of Tom Sawyer, for example, is kept at bay and child like, but death and violence are all about and discussed without blinking. We see that today in contemporary pop culture;rape and murder run rampant in prime time, but have a wardrobe malfunction that hints at sexuality and hell breaks loose.
Fiedler himself wrote that he wanted this book enjoyed on a level that wasn't necessarily scholarly, but as a kind of 'gothic novel'--if you read it that way, you'll enjoy it more.