Readings At The Edge Of Literature

Myra Jehlens aim in these essays is to read for what she calls the edge ofliterature the point at which writing seems unable to say more which is alsofor Jehlen... » 

Myra Jehlens aim in these essays is to read for what she calls the edge ofliterature the point at which writing seems unable to say more which is alsofor Jehlen the threshold of the real. It is here she argues that the centralparadoxes of the American project become clearselfreliance andresponsibility universal equality and the pursuit of empire writing from theheart and representing shared values and ideas. Developing these paradoxes totheir utmost tension American writers often produce penetrating critiques ofAmerican society without puncturing its basic myths.Throughout these essays Jehlen demonstrates the crucial role that the processof writing itself plays in unfolding these paradoxes whether in the form ofnovels by Harriet Beecher Stowe and Mark Twain the histories of Captain JohnSmith or even a work of architecture such as the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao.What results is a book that both penetrates and expands our understanding ofAmerican literature. «