The Harper American Literature

An innovative selection of major American Literature works, responsible edited to preserve the literary merit and cultural flavor of the original texts, represents as never before the scope and diversity of America's literary tradition. Evocative introductions by distinguished scholars and teachers provide the historical resonance and literary connections needed to make the works newly and fully accessible, from the literature of exploration to the writers of our moment. Beginning with the journals of Christopher Colombus; Chapters from all five books of The Leather-Stocking Tales precede the fullest presentation ever of the major authors of the American Renaissance. Emily Dickinson, Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, and Robert Lowel are among the authors finally displayed in the entire range of their poetic careers. A unique section on the literature of contemporary America carries the tradition right up to the most recent experiments in poetry, prose, and drama- in some instances work specially chosen by its author for this volume