Studies in Classic American Literature

delightful. the essay on moby dick alone is worth the read. has stayed fresh in my memories for over 20 years. lawrence may have been sobering out in taos, but his genuis was burning bright. remember, the works he was praising were not yet completely "canonical." lawrence was a key signpost. vivid and sensitive, imagistic appreciations.

This is a small book yet Lawrence's genius enables him to see big things in it, especially about those large writers like Melville he felt an affinity to. "Trust the tale and not the teller" is one of his motto's here and he tries to show how the great works go beyond the intentions of their creators. One objection. He is especially hard on Franklin who he makes into a priggish, petty prune of a minor moralist. Franklin was a many - sided genius who was open to kind of creation Lawrence had no sense of.

Excellent book. Lawrence is the only writer I know of who was able to trace the priggish type of American back to Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was a great man, but one of his more regrettable legacies appears in the modern WASP holier-than-thou type, the type that thinks it's inherently immoral to stay up late, and inherently moral to be a non-smoker. Take a close look at his interests and you'll see that it's to his advantage to preach what is, basically, servility. The rest of us Americans can't stand him (I'm convinced that Al Gore lost the election because he embodies this type), but his belief in his own piety remains unshaken to this day. Well, Lawrence gives him a perfectly-placed kick: check it out.All of these essays are thoughtful, funny, and insightful. Lawrence has a unique way of grasping the undercurrents of works of fiction, and many of his most surprising assertions ring true upon reflection.

this is a masterpiece, and you do not have to know much about books to notice the expertise of the author, his sense of what he is writing.he has really given me an orientation into the vast lands of american letters.he has set me going into a different direction and has made me read some books again. i recommend this book to anybody with a deep interest in american letters, but please keep reading this author, he is wonderful. LUIS MENDEZ [email protected]

I first learned of this delightful little work as a college freshman. My professor, a remarkably learned fellow with a tremendous knowledge of American literature, would occasionally reference it with amused appreciation. In our discussion of the Last of the Mohicans, I can still recall his enjoyment in recounting Lawrence's description of Cooper, sitting in a hotel room in a European city, with his gentleman's finery, surrounded by all of the trappings of a genteel aristocrat, living a sort of Walter Mitty life through his virtual antithesis -- Natty Bumpo, the protagonist of the Leatherstocking tales. To this day, I am amazed whenever I read this little tome, since Lawrence captures, in a few short essays, the essence of such authors as Franklin, Whitman, Cooper, and Melville. His style, so cheeky and incisive, is a joy to read. Lawrence had an astonishing grasp of what it is that makes American literature so fundamentally different from that which was composed by his own countrymen. He brings a pschoanalytic, Jungian perspective to bear on these great works, and sees in Natty Bumpo, Ishmael, and other heroes of American literature the archetypes of our collective American unconscious. Of course, this work tells us as much about Lawrence as it does about great American writers, which is why it makes such great reading. Lawrence is well known for being a novelist, but his corpus contains much else besides: travel literature, criticism, poetry, essays. This one is highly recommended.