The Oxford Handbook of Early American Literature is a major new reference work that provides the best single-volume source of original scholarship on early American literature. Comprised of twenty-seven chapters written by experts in their fields, this work presents an authoritative, in-depth, and up-to-date assessment of a crucial area within literary studies. Organized primarily in terms of genre, the chapters include original research on key concepts, as well as analysis of interesting texts from throughout colonial America. Separate chapters are devoted to literary genres of great importance at the time of their composition that have been neglected in recent decades, such as histories, promotion literature, and scientific writing. New interpretations are offered on the works of Benjamin Franklin, Jonathan Edwards and Dr. Alexander Hamilton while lesser known figures are also brought to light. Newly vital areas like print culture and natural history are given full treatment. As with other Oxford Handbooks, the contributors cover the field in a comprehensive yet accessible way that is suitable for those wishing to gain a good working knowledge of an area of study and where it's headed.
Readership: Students and scholars of American literature.
Edited by Kevin J. Hayes, Professor of English, University of Central Oklahoma
Notes on the Contributors Introduction Part I Exploration and Promotion 1 The Literature of Exploration - E. Thomson Shields, Jr. 2 Captain John Smith - Steven Olsen-Smith 3 Promotion Literature - Karen Schramm Part II Devotional Literature 4 Puritan Historians and Historiography - Naoki Onishi 5 New England Poetry - Ronald Bosco and Jillmarie Murphy 6 Captivity Literature - Lorrayne Carroll 7 Jonathan Edwards and The Great Awakening - Thomas S. Kidd Part III The Augustan Age in America 8 Augustan American Verse - Chris Beyers 9 Picaresque Travel Narratives -Daniel Royot 10 Dr. Alexander Hamilton - Kevin J. Hayes 11 Indian Voices in Early American Literature - Joshua David Bellin 12 Scientific Discourse - Susan Scott Parrish Part IV Contexts of Reading 13 Newspapers and Magazines - Christine Modey 14 Print and Manuscript Culture - Carla Mulford 15 Early American Libraries - Sarah Fatherly Part V Expressions of Individuality 16 Diaries - Kevin Berland 17 Early American Autobiography - Susan Clair Imbarrato 18 Early American Slave Narratives - April Langley 19 Benjamin Franklin - Kevin J. Hayes Part VI The Revolutionary Era 20 Early American Drama - Jason Shaffer 21 The Literature of Politics - Frank Shuffelton 22 Revolutionary Verse - Colin Wells Part VII Late Eighteenth-Century Prose 23 The Beginnings of the American Novel - Melissa J. Homestead 24 Crèvecoeurs Letters from an American Farmer - David J. Carlson 25 History as Literature - Ed White 26 The Place of Natural History in Early American Literature - Kevin J. Hayes