Describes the novel's publication history and initial critical reception, and discusses Gatsby's themes, style, and place in American literature.

First published in 1951, The Catcher in the Rye continues to be one of the most popular novels ever written as well as one of the most frequently banned books in the United States. In his introduction to this volume, Jack Salzman discusses the history of the novel's composition and publication, the mixed reception it has received from critics and scholars, the arguments surrounding the attempts at censorship, and its position in a postmodernist literary...

The American Novel series provides students of American literature with introductory critical guides to great works of American literature. Each volume begins with a substantial introduction by a distinguished authority on the text, giving details of the work's composition, publication history, and contemporary reception, as well as a survey of the major critical trends and readings from first publication to the present. This overview is followed...

Go Down, Moses (1942) came to fruition during World War II, was written during one of Faulkner's most traumatic periods, and has fallen into critical neglect amid the vast scholarship on the great southern writer. In part, this collection aims to tilt the balance, forcing the reader beyond the critical commonplaces through asking challenging questions. The five essays assembled here explore the tensions of race and gender apparent throughout the novel....

Ernest Hemingway is one of the most gifted, oft-taught, and frequently criticized authors of the short story in the English language. The introduction and four original scholarly essays in this volume constitute an overview of Hemingway's career as a short story writer and of practical problems involved in reading this work. The early short story "Up in Michigan" is explained in relation to the groundbreaking short story cycle In Our Time. Problems...

"After the Union Army's defeat at Fredericksburg in 1862, Walt Whitman and Louisa May Alcott converge on Washington to attend to the sick, wounded, and dying. Both of these iconic Americans, known for bucking the conventions of their day, find their principles and beliefs tested by grueling and grisly duties. Walt Whitman was a man of many contradictions: egocentric yet compassionate, vain though frequently transported by the beauty of others, he...