Sensational Designs: The Cultural Work of American Fiction,

Sensational Designs: The Cultural Work of American Fiction, 1790-1860

What makes a literary classic? In "Sensational Designs" Jane Tompkins argues that it is not the intrinsic merit of a text, but rather the circumstances of its writing. Against the modernist belief that art, in order to be art, must be free from propaganda, Tompkins contends that writers like Brockden Brown, Cooper, Stowe, and Warner wrote in order to alter the face of the social world, not to elicit aesthetic appreciation.Thus, the value and significance of the novels, for readers of their time, depended on precisely those characteristics that formalist criticism has taught us to deplore: stereotyped characters, sensational plots, and cliched language.
Country USA
Brand Oxford University Press
Manufacturer Oxford University Press
Binding Paperback
ItemPartNumber 9780195041194
Color White
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780195041194
ReleaseDate 0000-00-00

Sensational Designs: The Cultural Work of American Fiction, 1790-1860