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The American Classics : A Personal Essay by Denis Donoghue; ProQuest (Firm) is a work of fiction available to read on EtoBox.

What is The American Classics : A Personal Essay about?

How is a classic book to be defined? How much time must elapse before a work may be judged a classic”? And among all the works of American literature, which deserve the designation? In this provocative new book Denis Donoghue essays to answer these questions. He presents his own short list of relative” classics--works whose appeal may not be universal but which nonetheless have occupied an important place in our culture for more than a century. These books have survived the abuses of timeneglect, contempt, indifference, willful readings, excesses of praise, and hyperbole.Donoghue bestows the term classic on just five American works: Melville’s __Moby-Dick__,Hawthorne’s __The Scarlet Letter__, Thoreau’s __Walden__,Whitman’s __Leaves of Grass__, and Twain’s __Adventures of Huckleberry Finn__.Examining each in a separate chapter, he discusses how the writings have been received and interpreted, and he offers his own contemporary readings, suggesting, for example, that in the post9/11 era, __Moby-Dick__ may be rewardingly read as a revenge tragedy. Donoghue extends an irresistible invitation to open the pages of these American classics again, demonstrating with wit and acuity how v

Who reads The American Classics : A Personal Essay?

Author

Denis Donoghue; ProQuest (Firm)

Publisher

Yale University Press

Published

2005

Language

EN

ISBN

9781281722775

Category

work of fiction

Subjects

History, Literary Criticism, Literary Fiction

Rating

3.8 / 5 (4 ratings)

Updated

2026-03-14