An outline of American literature

by Peter B. High

A survey of the English prose, poetry and drama of the United States from Colonial times to the1980s.

Genres: Nonfiction, Literature, Literary Criticism

254 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1986

About the author

Peter B. High is professor of film and language at Nagoya University in Japan.

Reviews

[Jenna Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I borrowed this book from one of my upper level English students in Morocco. I was interested to see how and what they were learning about American culture. This book is like a collection of middle school book reports. They are short and to the point. If you can memorize the facts given in it you could sound really smart at a dinner party. I was saddened to see that some of the authors and subjects were not talked about more or looked into more, but this now gives me something to do with my class. As for me I have a new list of books that I should read. Over all the book is fine for what it is.

[Arisarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

It really IS an "outline" of American literature. A good introduction and fun to read. I also liked the pictures so much.

[Adrian Buck · Rating 3 out of 5]

The most useful part of this was the table of literary and historical events at the back. It's remarkable how few literary events there were in the first 300 years of American history. Is this also true of Latin America? Is there a German-American Literature that was quietly disposed of following the First World War? The nineteenth century produced only seven American novellists of note: Washington Irving, James Fennimore Cooper, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Henry James and Stephen Crane. I've found two of them nearly unreadable and one of them was so embarassed by this company, he became British.

In the 20th century America did make up for this poor start. I was amazed to discover that I had already read a good chunk of 'American literature', even if, at the time, I thought I was reading the counter-culture - Pynchon, Barth, Vonnegut, even Richard Brautigan is here. Maybe this is a distinctive feature of 'American Literature', that most of it has been written in opposition to the prevailing cultural norms. Who knows? Its not discussed here. Though I would hazzard a guess that 'British Literature' is far more conformist.

This book has some kind of educational market in mind, possibly an English as foreign language one, but the in-text glossary looks like an afterthought. I  wouldn't use it with my students (15-19, B1-C2) because it's far too dull. No one would guess that reading can be fun.

It's little more than an chronicle, though the final chapters on 'Black writers', and 'popular fiction' suggest that all the other chapters should be rewritten around themes rather than periods.  There are frequent references to the 'American Dream' , but no discussion of what that might be. From a more technical perspective there is similarly many mentions of 'free verse', but no indication that this might be anything other than a chaotic approach to punctuation.

It's copiously illustrated in black and white, which fills the pages, but mostly with portraits of writers. This seems to be another indicator of educational  intent; there are classrooms in the high school I teach which are decorated with nothing more than images of canonical Hungarian writers. I'm not sure what is expected to happen: are these stern portraits to encourage the student to pay attention to their words; or do they offer visual clues as to the meaning of those words? I prefer the illustrations taken from American novels, or stills taken from films adapted from them. This at least shows the student what I want them to do - imagine what they have read.

[Nazanin Mousavi · Rating 3 out of 5]

as a text book, it was really fun to read.

[امتياز · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتاب رائع بحق

[رِناد · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I came to the end of this book I had composed a general acquaintance of American literature from nuts to soup. I never faced difficulty with the language; it is facile and legible. The content is detailed, yet not wordy; it examines each era including literary movements, most widespread works, most popular writers and a brief about each one.

[Bruno Coriolano · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is a brief overview of American literature chronologically; It's pretty much the same as The Outline of English Literature. Some people might find it boring. If you really want to learn more about American literature, you should read other books as well.

[Farhad Daneshpour · Rating 1 out of 5]

How can i read this book?
I dont know this aplication?

[Malika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay so, that was an interesting introduction to american literature, so I advice people who are looking for books to read to check that book, it gives a small summary and analysis to each book.

Most Modernist writers commited a suicide, this is what struck me the most!

[Narges_Jmlpr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very brief with a simple and easy language. It was a good introduction on American literature but some important parts were shorter than they should be.

[Mary]

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[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book gives a brief overview of American literature chronologically. The author occasionally gives readers some quotes and extracts of the writers he is writing about. It is suitable for light reading and works well as an introduction to American literature because it does not go in depth. Some chapters could have been elaborated more and perhaps updated, especially the one on African American literature of the 20th century. Overall, I found it an easy read and recommend it as a book for readers who are new to American literature.

[Michaela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty much the same as The Outline of English Literature.

[Marwa · Rating 5 out of 5]

goood one

[Cyssah Olyver]

I knew nothing about American Literature, so I think it was a good start.

[Kent Vin]

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