American Literature in Transition, 1930–1940

This book is the most comprehensive critical treatment of American letters in the 1930s. Twenty-four leading scholars analyze key aspects of this era.

American Literature in Transition, 1930–1940 situates the major themes and aspects of the Depression era's key literary activities in the long arc of literary history. This is an excellent resource for undergraduate, graduate students, and scholars interested in American literary culture of the 1930s.American Literature in Transition, 1930–1940 gathers together in a single volume preeminent critics and historians to offer an authoritative, analytic, and theoretically advanced account of the Depression era's key literary events. Many topics of canonical importance, such as protest literature, Hollywood fiction, the culture industry, and populism, receive fresh treatment. The book also covers emerging areas of interest, such as radio drama, bestsellers, religious fiction, internationalism, and middlebrow domestic fiction. Traditionally, scholars have treated each one of these issues in isolation. This volume situates all the significant literary developments of the 1930s within a single and capacious vision that discloses their hidden structural relations - their contradictions, similarities, and reciprocities. This is an excellent resource for undergraduate, graduate students, and scholars interested in American literary culture of the 1930s.