Reviews for Studies in Classic American Literature

The average rating for Studies in Classic American Literature based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-04-22 00:00:00 Tae Hyung Kim Lawrence was always magnificent when he wrote fiction. However, he was more than magnificent when he wrote critical essays. In this collection, he theorises and summarises some of the best American Literature. A good and ideal critical book for anyone who wants to understand the classic American literature.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-05-31 00:00:00 Vladimir Joseph More about D.H. Lawrence than Classic American Literature. And more of an examination of his own personal spiritual precepts than the inner-workings of novels and stories by Poe, Hawthorne, Melville, etc. He dissects Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" not for its literary values, but for the ethical principles it embodies which can be practically applied to life. That said, Lawrence was among the first major critics to take these works seriously and recognize their radical shift away from European literature. He perceptively identifies one of the key aspects of this early American fiction -- the dark story carefully hidden beneath the work's relatively conventional surface. And he celebrates their true extremity. Too bad he didn't also tackle Twain's "Huckleberry Finn" and somehow missed Emily Dickinson, whose work is both a prime exemplar of his literary theory and complicates it to no end. 3.5 stars