San Antonio College Library

"This is the first comprehensive assessment of the major periods and varieties of American autobiography. The eleven original essays in this volume do not only survey what has been done; they also point toward what can and should be done in future studies of a literary genre that is now receiving major scholarly attention. Book jacket."--BOOK JACKET.

In Western society we feel neither entirely at one with our fellow creatures, nor entirely separate. Over the years, nature writers have struggled, in memorable language, with this feeling of "in-betweeness." A Natural History of Nature Writing shows us how this genre combines the rigors of science with the beauty of art to make our minds and our hearts whole. The book offers a penetrating overview of the origins and development of this uniquely American...

"Surface and Depth: The Quest for Legibility in American Culture is a fresh attempt to revitalize an interpretive overview. Focusing on the distinctly American zeal for knowing or making legible, it seeks to recuperate a central tradition while simultaneously recognizing how much that tradition has occluded." "Combining historical reconceptualization with readings of many of the classics of American literature, Michael Gilmore traces - from the time...

For blues musicians, "worrying the line" is the technique of breaking up a phrase by changing pitch, adding a shout, or repeating words in order to emphasize, clarify, or subvert a moment in a song. Cheryl A. Wall applies this term to fiction and nonfiction writing by African American women in the twentieth century, demonstrating how these writers bring about similar changes in African American and American literary traditions. Examining the works...