Covers, Titles, and Tables: The Formations of American Literary Canons
Covers, Titles, and Tables: The Formations of American Literary Canons
Kenneth M. Roemer
University of Texas at Arlington
ne of the most efficient ways to become acquainted with the dramatic changes in how "American literature" is conceived, packaged and delivered is to browse through examples of titles, covers, and tables of contents reproduced from significant anthologies and histories. Even glancing at a few contents pages can raise fundamental questions, not only about the gender, race, class, and age representations of "America," but also about institutional and disciplinary changes.
For instance, how can anthologies be used to demonstrate that a particular "literature" has sufficient "quantity" to be studied and sufficient "quality" (including "masterpieces" and "renaissances") to be studied "seriously" and passed on to the next generation as a worthy representation of American culture? Should a history or an anthology stress coherent themes, motifs, and patterns that distinguish a cultural or national identity or should they stress pluralities and the blurring of identity definitions? To what degree does/should an anthology or history reflect current theoretical and ideological orientations? What does the changing nature of editorial boards and publishing companies say about who defines American culture?
These questions may sound "academic"; and indeed they are. But they should also concern any group in America dedicated to forming, preserving, and distributing concepts of our literature and culture, whether they be teachers, students, librarians, book dealers, publishers, parents serving on school boards, or political and religious leaders.
As I have indicated in a Fall 1999 Heath Anthology of American Literature Newsletter article "The Tales Tables (of Contents) Tell," (included on this Web site), this collection began with anthologies of early American literature. This focus reflects my belief that the definition of the "beginnings" often sets patterns for the rest of the portrait of American literature.
Although there is still an emphasis on early American literature and the collection is certainly not exhaustive even in that area, this expanded version of the collection is more inclusive than earlier versions. The most significant improvement in this collection of more than100 volumes is the additional coverage of the 19th and 20th centuries. The online collection has almost tripled in size since its first appearance in the fall of 2000. Much of the expansion is due to the inclusion of entire two-volume tables of contents; the earlier collections frequently omitted much of the 19th and all of the 20th century. There are also important additions of anthologies not previously listed, including significant volumes mentioned in Jane Tompkins' "But Is It Any Good" chapter in Sensational Designs (1985). The collection will continue to grow as I add titles discussed in more recent scholarship, such as Joseph Csicsila's Canons by Consensus: Critical Trends and American Literary Anthologies (2004). One other improvement: the publication time frame has expanded back to 1829 and up to 2006.
This is still a selective collection, especially if we take into consideration developments such as the Pearson Custom Library of American Literature, which allows instructors to create print anthologies drawing from more than 1700 selections, and the numerous online opportunities that open up a new world of customized electronic anthology creation.
Despite these limitations, the response to the collection have been encouraging. For instance, the Web site is the first resource discussed in the Introduction ("What is American Literature?" section) to Martha L. Brogan and Daphnée Rentfrow's A Kaleidoscope of Digital American Literature (Washington, D.C.: Council on Library Information Resources and Digital Library Federation, 2005 (2-3).
Brogan and Rentfrow are recognizing the work of a team, not an individual. I would like to thank Paul Lauter of Trinity College and Carla Mulford of Pennsylvania State University for encouraging me and offering advice about this project. Phil Cohen and Tim Morris, my former Departmental Chairs, and Victor Vitanza, the former Departmental Webmaster, allowed me to occupy Departmental virtual space at the University of Texas at Arlington. I owe a special debt to Matthew Levy and Robert Flach, who designed the Web site, and who, along with Ryan Beatty, spent many hours transforming my hard copies into the electrons before your eyes. Professor Carolyn Guertin, the Director or the University of Texas at Arlington's e-Create Lab has graciously offered her expert advice about design and distribution of the Web site. I am also indebted to scholars from around the country, in particular John Bryant, Loren Gruber, and Sondra Reid for pointing out possible improvements in design and omissions in the earlier collections. Finally, I would like to thank the publishers and individuals who granted permission to reproduce covers, title pages, and tables of contents.