From Cover to Cover and Sea to Shining Sea: The Authors who gave America its Voice Instant American Literature delves into our rich literary heritage. Filled with quirky facts and lively illustrations, this spirited survey visits the war-torn trenches with Stephen Crane, creeps through the nightmarish realm of Edgar Allan Poe, and ponders Walden Pond with henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. If you don’t know who (or what!) Natty Bumppo is or which legendary torne made famous the words “Simplicity! Simplicity! Simplicity! Then this book is for you. In this vastly informative entertaining compendium, you will: •learn the true meaning of rejection from Emily Dickinson, who lived to see seven poems published—out of a prolific 1,775 masterpieces. •discover which book was chosen by a federally appointed committee as a “must read.” •find out how Sir Walter Scott and the Underground Railroad made Frederick Douglas a free man. •learn which writer’s brain invented the headless horseman and get dirt on the original ”Smashing Pumpkins”! Instant American Literature is packed with special features, including chapter summaries, “who’s who: lists, illustrations and photographs, little-known biographical facts, and historical tidbits. Instant American Literature—It’s in a class by itself.

The American Scene considers major texts of nineteenth century American literature: The Leatherstocking Tales, Poe's fiction, The Scarlet Letter, Moby-Dick, Leaves of Grass, Dickinson's poetry, Huckleberry Finn, James's The American Scene. It sees these works as attempts to articulate relationships between the self and the New World. The indeterminacy of the relationships is expressed in the formal instability of the works themselves. In these respects, nineteenth century American literature is shown to offer a striking contrast to comparable English literature.

This book offers a critical study and analysis of American fiction at the beginning of the twenty-first century. It focuses on novels that ‘go outward’ literally and metaphorically, and it concentrates on narratives that take place mainly away from the US’s geographical borders. Varvogli draws on current theories of travel globalization and post-national studies, and proposes a dynamic model that will enable scholars to approach contemporary American fiction and assess recent changes and continuities. Concentrating on work by Philip Caputo, Dave Eggers, Norman Rush and Russell Banks, the book proposes that American literature’s engagement with Africa has shifted and needs to be approached using new methodologies. Novels by Amy Tan, Garrison Keillor, Jonathan Safran Foer and Dave Eggers are examined in the context of travel and globalization, and works by Chang-rae Lee, Ethan Canin, Dinaw Mengestu and Jhumpa Lahiri are used as examples of the changing face of the American immigrant novel, and the changing meaning of national belonging.