american lit

Hi, just wondering if anyone knows where to find Gravity's Rainbow and The Bell by Sylvia Plath online. Also, do you recomend these novels? What are some of your favorite post WWWII novels/ short stories? thanks

Www.amazon.com Try there.

I really dislike 20th century American Literature. It's all about adventure and finding yourself, which I've always viewed as trite. Eh. To each his own.

As apposed to 19th century American literature which was about...?

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Originally Posted by Dr. Hill

I really dislike 20th century American Literature. It's all about adventure and finding yourself, which I've always viewed as trite. Eh. To each his own.

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I love it! Maybe you're reading the wrong stuff.

The only American literature I enjoy is American Romanticism from authors such as Hawthorne and Melville. Kerouac, JD Salinger, Steinbeck, Fitzgerald; I can do without them. It's not awful, but it isn't anything that catches my attention.

What about Wallace Stevens? T. S. Eliot? Willa Cather?

T.S. Eliot, sure. Willa Cather, absolutely not. I've never read Wallace Stevens.

I do like T.S. Eliot, particularly "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

One thing I've noticed, is that Dos Passos doesn't seem to be discussed much in these forums, I can't remember even having seen his name mentioned... why is that so?

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Originally Posted by Etienne

One thing I've noticed, is that Dos Passos doesn't seem to be discussed much in these forums, I can't remember even having seen his name mentioned... why is that so?

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In all my college endeavor, both undrergrad and grad school, I've never had to read Dos Passos in any class. I don't think he's pushed much in the University. I've still never read him.

Nor have I.

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Originally Posted by Dr. Hill

I really dislike 20th century American Literature. It's all about adventure and finding yourself, which I've always viewed as trite. Eh. To each his own.

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This, it seems to me, is a very myopic statement, entitled to this opinion as you are. 20th Century American Literature cannot be summed up in a single sentence or in a simple phrase. I think that by simply listing the names of authors so different from one another yet all American - Thomas Pynchon, Saul Bellow, Raymond Carver, Junot Diaz, Toni Morrison, Willa Cather - I am discrediting your statement.

For a more nuanced and learned introduction to American literature, I recommend From Puritanism to Postmodernism by Malcom Bradbury.

Oh my, one is entitled to his opinion, sir. No need to attempt to shoot it down, especially considering all tastes are naught but opinions in the first place.

And to call my opinion uneducated is a bit of an assumption, no? This considering I have taken several American Literature classes and am going on to teach English. I concede that not ALL American literature is as described, though, in my opinion, the authors you've listed do not astonish either, for different reasons.

I've heard Gravity's Rainbow is a must read but I haven't got around to it. I have it saved on this hard drive but probably won't be reading it here.

The Bell Jar I do not recommend. Depressing, slow, dry. There were a few memorable scenes, though.

Well, to play the devils advocate, you haven't read Wallace Stevens. He's like the central figure of 20th century poetry - though some would say Eliot.