The Viking Portable Library American Literature Survey: The American Romantics 1800-1860

by Milton R. Stern (Editor), Seymour L. Gross (Editor)

Collection of literature

Genres: Literature

712 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1962

Reviews

[Will Cadle · Rating 2 out of 5]

The second volume of a four-volume set covers significant writers through the first half of the 19th century up to, at least, the 1860s. Any or all of the volumes would've been an excellent teaching tool for university-level English courses, and that was probably the primary intent. Luckily for me, a professor of mine donated his set to my library while clearing out his office (my edition was updated, revised and expanded, in 1968). I've been steadily going through each volume and selecting any material I have not already read, which, in some cases, is a lot or a little depending on the volume. The hope -- and reward -- of this endeavor is to discover new works and/or new authors I've not previously read. Most of the authors in this volume I've read, and I've read most of their works, so there's been little to engage my interest. Most, if not all, of these writers have received their due, and are recognized for their literary worth; but, noticeably, this volume reeks of testosterone. There are no women, no female voices, no evidence that they were writing during this period. Such exclusions always make me a bit dubious of the editors' breadth and discernment in taste. You have Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, Edgar Allan Poe, Emerson, Whitman, Melville, right up to James Russell Lowell, but surely there were women writing during this period? If they were, we'd never know it from this volume. Even the selections of these early American writers seems curious: there's Cooper, but from his essays only and nothing of his fiction; Hawthorne's biography is included but none of his short stories? For these reasons, I find this volume lags in quality compared to the final two volumes.