The American Novel, 1870-1940

The period of 1870 to 1940 saw the consolidation of the nation following the Civil War and the rise of the United States as a world power. The transformation of the novel during these years accompanied, registered, and in some cases promoted these changes. The era witnessed the emergence of new reading publics, new means of producing and distributing novels, and new forms and genres. The proliferation of anthologies and criticism encouraged contemporary novelists to see themselves as writing within-or against--a national tradition as well as mass culture. Complementing and challenging that sense of tradition, international aesthetic movements (such as Modernism) and political ones (such as Marxism) encouraged novelists to engage with artistic and political movements beyond the literary, and improved transportation increased the opportunity for contact with formerly remote peoples and cultures. An expansive addition to the Oxford History of the Novel in English, this volume will highlight these developments within the context of global networks of influence and will cover topics like Reconstruction and the novel, the immigrant bildungsroman, early cinema and the novel, religious narratives, the innovations of Henry James, comics and the novel, and hardboiled detective fiction, among many others.