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Spoon River Anthology

100th Anniversary Edition

Edgar Lee Masters John Hollander Ronald Primeau

$16.99

Paperback

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English
Signal Books
15 January 2017
"In 1915, Edgar Lee Masters published a book of poetic monologues told from the point of view of various inhabitants of Spoon River, a town based on his own Midwestern boyhood. The powerful emotions, secrets, tragedies and scandals of Spoon River were immediately recognized by readers as piercingly authentic. As the speakers rise one by one from the dead to tell the truth about his or her life, their testimony topples the myth of the moral superiority of small-town America. Spoon River is, after all, as corrupt and cruel as the big city, full of drunks, thieves, murderers, crooked bankers, hypocrites, abusers, the weak, the bitter, and a few good souls. The freshness of this masterpiece remains undiminished a century later and stands as a landmark of American Literature.

In 1915, Edgar Lee Masters published a book of dramatic monologues written in free verse about a fictional town called Spoon River, based on the Midwestern towns where he grew up. The shocking scandals and secret tragedies of Spoon River were immediately recognized by readers as authentic. Masters raises the dead ""sleeping on the hill"" in their village cemetery to tell the truth about their lives, and their testimony topples the American myth of the moral superiority of small-town life. Spoon River, as undeniably corrupt and cruel as the big city, is home to murderers, drunkards, crooked bankers, lechers, bitter wives, abusive husbands, failed dreamers, and a few good souls. The freshness of this masterpiece undiminished, Spoon River Anthology remains a landmark of American literature.

With an Introduction by John Hollander and an Afterword by Ronald Primeau"

By:  
Afterword by:  
Introduction by:  
Imprint:   Signal Books
Country of Publication:   United States
Dimensions:   Height: 170mm,  Width: 107mm,  Spine: 21mm
Weight:   187g
ISBN:   9780451530585
ISBN 10:   0451530586
Pages:   336
Publication Date:  
Recommended Age:   From 18 years
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

As a young man, Edgar Lee Masters (1869-1950) rebelled against what he believed to be the hypocrisy of small-town life and went to Chicago, where he practiced law for thirty years. He published eleven books of verses, plays, and essays before beginning his masterpiece, Spoon River Anthology (1915). Later, Masters, Carl Sandburg, and Vachel Lindsay initiated a poetic renaissance in the Midwest, with Chicago as its center. John Hollander (1929-2013) was an acclaimed American poet and the Sterling Professor emeritus of English at Yale University. His books include Spectral Emanations- New and Selected Poems, Harp Lake, In Time and Place, and Blue Wine and Other Poems. Hollander was also the author of a number of critical works, including Rhyme's Reason- A Guide to English Verse. Ronald Primeau is Professor of English and Director of the MA in Humanities at Central Michigan University. He has published books on Edgar Lee Masters, Herbert W. Martin, the literature of the American highway, and the rhetoric of television. He has edited works on Masters, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and the dynamics of literary influence.

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