The problems and ideologies that define American culture were formed in the 19th century.
Articles on American literature
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Some of the most exciting fiction and memoir is being done in the form of graphic novels. Here are some of the very best.
Status anxiety and conspicuous consumption generate a dazzling, often surreal poetry in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. But Gatsby’s rise and fall exposes deep fissures underlying the American Dream.
In some ways, perhaps Morrison is even more relevant in South African universities today than she’s ever been.
While clear-eyed about the country’s injustices, Melville never succumbed to cynicism. On the author’s bicentennial, American readers could use a dose of his ability to fuse realism with idealism.
Catch 22 as seen by George Clooney is just far too good looking.
Walt Whitman is perhaps America’s most admired poet. His work, now praised for its themes of equality and democracy, was once shunned for its experimental verse and discussion of sexuality.
Sharp-eyed Victorian writers exploded the myth of tranquil village life.
Bilocation is a popular Christian myth but also one that is known to modern physics.
Spanish-speaking writers have made exceptional contributions to American literature. Here are the best Latin American and Latino authors you probably haven’t heard of.
His recent death will lead to some old debates about his work returning – but are they still valid?
Whether you loved him or hated him, his canonical status is beyond question.
George Saunders has become the second American to win the Man Booker.
Hopper’s brand of Americanism was a counterpoint to American optimism. Fifty years after his death, his legacy lives on.
He probably would have been amused by – and maybe even befriended – Trump the entertainer. Trump the president? Not so much.
The American writer remains as elusive 100 years after his death as he was at the time.
Why the death of Harper Lee is bigger news than the deaths of many major writers.
Slated to be demolished this year, a crumbling brick building on Ole Miss’ campus once operated as a power plant where novelist William Faulkner shoveled coal – and feverishly wrote.
Anne Tyler’s Booker short-listed novel is an exquisite meditation on family life.
Male friendship is often overlooked in the 20th-century novel, but in her Booker short-listed novel Yanagihara places it centre.
Top contributors
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Lecturer in English Literature, Adelaide University
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Lecturer in Literary Studies, Monash University
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Professor of English, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, ACU, Australian Catholic University
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Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney
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Senior Lecturer, Writing, Department of Media and Communication, Swinburne University of Technology
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Jury Professor of English and Language and Literature, Adelaide University
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Senior Lecturer in American Literature and Film, Loughborough University
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Professor of Contemporary Literature, University of Reading
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Professor of History and American Studies, Cornell University
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Professor of Philosophy and Intellectual History
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Lecturer in English Literature, Bath Spa University
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Professor in English Literature, University of Essex
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Senior Lecturer, University of Aberdeen
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Senior Lecturer, School of Arts & Humanities, Nottingham Trent University
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Senior Lecturer in Twentieth-Century Literature and Culture, Newcastle University