Product Description

The Literature of California is a landmark publication-unmatched by any existing collection and distinguished by its breadth, variety of sources, and historical sweep. The editors have been refreshingly inclusive and imaginative in their selection: some of the writers are internationally known, others are anthologized here for the first time. The richness of material, ranging from Native American origin myths to Hollywood novels dissecting the American Dream; from the familiar voices of John Steinbeck, Jack London, and William Saroyan to the less-well-known narratives of Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton, Josephine Miles, and Jade Snow Wong-all of it captures the spirit and scope of the state itself.

This first volume of the comprehensive two-volume anthology is divided into four parts. The first includes stories, legends, and songs of the indigenous tribes. The second section comprises letters, diaries, reports, and travel narratives that trace a century of exploration, discovery, and conquest. Part III includes Mother Lode tales by Mark Twain and Bret Harte, the first signs of California poetry, the rise of narrative by California women, the nature writing of John Muir and Mary Austin, and some of the earliest prose from writers of Asian background, as well as the maturing fiction of Jack London and Frank Norris. Part IV traces the period between the World Wars, when California literature came fully into its own.

A lively introduction contextualizes each section, and concise biographical material is included for each writer. Volume Two, to be published in 2002, concentrates on the second half of the twentieth-century, during which California became one of the most active literary regions in the world. A colossal contribution to the culture of the state, The Literature of California broadens our sense of this region's richness, both past and present, offering new ways of perceiving history, community, and oneself.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #782095 in Books
• Published on: 2000-12-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 870 pages

From Library Journal
The ideal of California has historically brought many images to the minds of explorers. Whether it was Native Americans living on its land, gold diggers panning its waters, or technology gurus developing Silicon Valley, California has always opened its doors to disconnected people seeking refuge, power, spirituality, fame, or prosperity. The Literature of California, Vol. 1 offers a thorough, chronological review of the writings that flowed from these people. The volume begins with the Native American tales which initiated the spiritual quest that, to this day, continues to draw new residents to the West Coast. Part 2 contains letters, diaries, reports, and travel narratives from Clarence King, Dame Shirley, Sarah Eleanor Royce, and John Rollin Ridge, the first Native American to publish a novel. Part 3 features the stories of popular writers like Mark Twain, Bret Harte, Jack London, and Frank Norris. Part 4, which covers what the editors call "the period between the world wars," includes Robinson Jeffers, Dashiell Hammett, and Nathanael West. It is in these last two sections that the influence of Asian writers begins to take shape. Overall, the diversity and the inclusion of many female authors make this work refreshing. Readers will also come away with a respect for the spirituality embraced by so many of the travelers. A second volume is due in 2002.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"[T]his first installment of a proposed two-volume anthology offers a thorough historical survey of 'writings from the Golden State.'" -- Times Literary Supplement

From the Inside Flap
"An utterly extraordinary collection, and I have nothing but admiration and highest praise for the selection of the material, its depth and arrangement. It is comprehensive, lively, done with great zest, imagination, and a sense of responsibility toward the state and its literary heritage."--Malcolm Margolin, publisher of Heyday Books

"This first volume is a big, generous, and inclusive collection that shows me a host of things that I hadn't read before."--Thom Gunn

"This long-awaited volume captures the vast panorama of thought, emotion, and eloquent musings inspired by the landscapes and crossroads culture of the Golden State. The energy and promise and adrenaline of the California dream are richly sampled here, along with its paradoxes and tragic shortcomings. This is a knock-out anthology: indispensable for anyone who cares about American literature and the place of California in the national imagination." --Michael Kowalewski, editor, Gold Rush: A Literary Exploration, and former president of the Western Literature Association

"This marvelous collection of literature creates a sense of time and place like no other in the world. California starts in native origin stories; the songs of many cultures and mighty landscapes rightly open this literary treasury. The literature of exploration, conquest, and separation is followed by the rise of romance, irony, adventure and, in the last section, a return to the stories of cultural diversity. Earthmaker, in the opening Maidu creation myth, said 'there will always be songs, and all of you will have them.' That sentiment has endured in The Literature of California." --Gerald Vizenor, University of California, Berkeley

"This first volume of The Literature of California is a brilliant and almost impossible achievement. For the first time, the amazing richness of California's literary heritage, from the intricate and beautiful stories of the first Natives to the hard-boiled fiction of Los Angeles, is illuminated here amply and unmistakably and, above all, respectfully. I am awed by these four editors' stunning labor, love for place and word, and finally, profound knowledge of their home region. Superlatives come quickly to mind--extraordinary, monumental, invaluable. I can't wait for volume two." --Louis Owens, University of New Mexico

"This anthology comes in the nick of time to re-open our minds to the radically enthusiastic, naiively critical, poems, stories and tales that are giving shape to one of the most exciting new cultures on the globe. Volume One curves from the Maidu story that tells of 'Turtle Island' through Clarence King's ringing hammer and Muir's mountain devotionalism, through Jeffers' astute and cranky foresight. We get Dame Shirley's gold country letters and then the freshly appreciated Jaime de Angulo; Josephine Miles together with James F. Cain and Nathanael West! Ending this volume with the tough, acerbic prose of Chester Hymes. Finally- a book to match the land." --Gary Snyder

"The publication of this anthology--so comprehensive, so vital in its content, so illustrative of high literary experience--is in and of itself an important milestone in the evolution of California as a foundational component of American civilization. The Literature of California is more than an anthology. It suggests as well a vast public work, a Golden Gate Bridge of intellectual and imaginative materials. Here in this anthology, to paraphrase Joan Didion on UC Berkeley, can now be found one of California's best ideas on itself." --Dr. Kevin Starr, State Librarian of California

"An extraordinary volume, at once imaginative, academically sound and meticulously comprehensive."--Carolyn See, author of Golden Days

Customer Reviews

California, End of the earth
I'm taking a class from one of the guys who compiled the book, and for starters let me say twenty bucks is a damn good deal for a textbook. This one is meaty too. Very interesting prefaces for each selection of writing, as well as essays about each period. A must for anyone curious about Mythic California and the writers who, well, wrote about it. Great stuff by Twain and other biggies. My favorite pieces are those giving a glimpse into Californian mining camps. The one downfall of this book is that it would have been difficult interpreting the native american stories had I not been takeing a class concurrently. The essays written by the editors about the decimation of the native population, the subsequent eviction of Mexicans were much more insightful than the native pieces themselves. There are also pieces by descendants of native peoples, which give insight.