Literary Legacies of the Federal Writers’ Project

Voices of the Depression in the American Postwar Era
Softcover Nachdruck of the original 1. Auflage 2017
ISBN: 978-3-319-85241-6
Verlag: Palgrave Macmillan

Buch, Englisch, 110 Seiten, Previously published in hardcover, Format (B × H): 148 mm x 210 mm, Gewicht: 1657 g

Reihe: American Literature Readings in the 21st Century

The first book-length literary analysis of the WPA’s Federal Writers’ Project (FWP)—a massive New Deal program that put thousands to work documenting the country during the Depression. Drawing on critical histories, archival documents, and select works of fiction, the book examines the nature and history of the FWP’s documentary method and its literary imprint, particularly on three key black American writers: Ralph Ellison, Dorothy West, and Margaret Walker. By aiming their documentary lenses so precisely on individual voices, folklore, and cultural communities, FWP writers would ultimately eschew the social realism of thirties culture in favor of themes surrounding personal and cultural identities in the postwar era.This concise volume demonstrates how the FWP served as a repository from which many of the most treasured 20 century writers drew material, techniques, and philosophical direction in ways that would help steer the course of American writing.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Rutkowski, Sara

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Englische Literatur Amerikanische Literatur
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturgeschichte und Literaturkritik
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literarische Strömungen & Epochen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

.- Introduction: A Literary Venture, Sidestepped.- Pioneering a New Literary Form.- From Politics to Personalism: A Historical Perspective.- Ralph Ellison: Capturing the Idiom.- Beyond Hurston and Wright; Toward West and Walker.- Conclusion: Forging a Critical Path: Other Considerations for Pursuing the FWP’s Literary Legacies.

Über Autor(innen)

Sara Rutkowski is Professor of Literature and Writing at the City University of New York: Kingsborough Community College.