The Classical Tradition in Modern American Fiction

Explores the importance and complexity of classical allusiveness in the modern American novel

Explores both the sheer extent and the ideologically-invested nature of classical allusiveness in the modern American novel Sheds significant new light on canonical and often-taught major American novelists Synthesizes and builds on existing research to demonstrate how a proper understanding of each writer’s classical allusiveness contributes to broad debates about modernism and postmodernism, intertextuality and the history and categorization of the American novel Draws on the methodologies and insights of Classical Reception studies as well as American studies, and makes an invaluable contribution to both fields Includes a user-friendly glossary that explains all the classical names, concepts and words

This book is an invaluable survey of the allusions to ancient Greek and Roman culture in the work of seven major modern American novelists: Willa Cather, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison, Philip Roth and Marilynne Robinson. Making the classical world accessible to all readers, it combines new close readings of three key texts by each author with overviews of the essential prior scholarship in the field. It also builds on archival research in documenting the nature and extent of each author’s own familiarity with classical literature and languages.