The Radical Novel in the United States, 1900-1954

Description

Some Interrelations of Literature and Society

Walter B. Rideout
Columbia University Press

In this classic work Walter B. Rideout examines the relationship between society and literature while demonstrating how the proletarian novel, a literary phenomenon of the 1930s, was related to both previous and subsequent interest in revolutionary Marxism. Not only does Rideout focus on leftist writers and their works, he also analyzes the wide and surprisingly varied range of responses voiced by literary critics throughout the decades.

Utilizing examples from radical novels still frequently read today, like The Jungle and Native Son, as well as from those books commonly forgotten but nevertheless crucial to understanding the genre, Rideout offers an authoritative and convincing demonstration that art and literature are firmly rooted in social experience. The Radical Novel in the United States, 1900-1954 remains the definitive study of this significant chapter in the literary history of America.