Status Updates From Anthology of American Liter...

Nearing the last part. Contemporary America is in view now, yet the issues of race and gender are still as prominent as ever. Oh yeah and the police are here now

Nice set of stories this time. Tragedy and more tragedy.

Crazy plays and stories.

More poems. Experiences of minorities abound.

Damn, that last story's ending got me good. I need to lie down for a while.

Three plays and so many poems later. I must admit to still being biased towards the plays - I felt like I was watching Turner Classic Movies or something. Highs of triumph and depths of despair both. But the poems were nice too.

One session for Death of a Salesman. So good, it's worth spending one reading session over.

Start of the post World-War series. The usual issues remain, especially race and social status, but now we are squarely faced with technology and its impact on individuals and groups. Reading Welty, Wright, Ellison and Williams.

And that end the section of American literature just before the second World War. Faulkner, Steinbeck, Hughes and several other greats are here. Now to take a quick break before we get to postmodern American lit.

Finally got to Fitzgerald and the glamor and crash of the 20s. Now we can really talk about closing off the pre-World War II chapter and into post-modernity.

Plays and poems this time. From the traditional to the e.e. cummings (yes he has his own category).

Didn't include the section by Gertrude Stein but that was a hoot. Repetition is the key. Dos Passos was also notable, and also the tragedy of Anderson.

Back to American lit, in the middle of Du Bois. So apparently the correct pronunciation is /Du Boys/, huh. Anyway he is a seminal figure in literature, and black literature in particular, and you can feel it in his work.

Finished the section with a depresso read (great) and a weird pseudo-scientific screed (tf is this). Such a weak way to end a very strong section that started the realist movement in America.

Just finished the Edith Wharton section. Her and Frank Norris are my faves for this section, Wharton a telenoveletic amusement, and Norris a technical fascination. I can also see the importance of Stephen Crane.

Ended with the Kate Chopin section. It did live up to its promise of being scandalous lol. Surprisingly characters were able to live up to the scandalous plot, they were in the scene long enough and not a minute longer. It was about one person and one person's experience only, and oh how well it was expressed.

Finished the Henry James section. I can see why he is both popular and still cited in a few American lit circles today.

Still in the middle of Henry James. Quite a verbose author, still like Daisy Miller the most out of the four works so far.

Finished the Twain section. Feel giddy so far, I hope I don't lose this feeling of awe.

In the middle of the Mark Twain section. The first few parts are meh but the Huckleberry Finn part is a hoot and a half!