Reimagining Realism: A New Anthology of Late Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century American Short Fiction

Reimagining Realism is an anthology of short fiction from the latter half of the nineteenth century through the first decades of the twentieth century, featuring a blend of romanticism and realism and a thematic focus on the tension between idealized notions of noble, patriotic duty and the horrific reality of war. It includes lesser-known works by familiar authors and authors from many previously underrepresented groups, and features headnotes and annotations to help readers better understand the texts.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 688 pages
Publication date: 13 December 2022
Publisher: Ohio University Press

Louisa May Alcotts Hospital Sketches, originally published in 1863, offers a refreshing perspective on American literature from the latter half of the nineteenth century through the first decades of the twentieth. Based on Alcotts brief stint as a Civil War nurse, Hospital Sketches stands in contrast to the sentimentality of her better-known Little Women and illustrates a blending of romanticism and realism. Furthermore, its thematic focus on the tension between idealized notions of noble, patriotic duty and the horrific reality of war exemplifies a dominant American cultural mindset at the time.

Following this model of complicating accepted ideas about realism and of particular authors, Reimagining Realism brings together dozens of texts that engage with the immense changes and upheavals that characterized American culture over the next six decades: war, abolition, voting rights, westward expansion, immigration, racism and ethnocentrism, industrial production, labor reforms, transportation, urban growth, journalism, mass media, education, and economic disparity.

Reimagining Realism presents a collection of works much more diverse than what is typically found in other anthologies of short fiction from this era. Some selections are lesser-known works by familiar authors that enable readers to see dimensions of these authors that are rarely considered but deserve further study. The book also features authors from many previously underrepresented groups and includes some outstanding works by authors whose names are almost completely unknown to todays readers-but which deserve greater attention.

The volumes editors, in their intent to spur readers to further reimagine realism, to represent the spectrum of viewpoints prevalent during t.

Dimension: 235 x 155 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780804012379