River of Dreams: Imagining the Mississippi Before Mark Twain Contributor(s): Smith, Thomas Ruys (Author) |
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ISBN: 0807132330 ISBN-13: 9780807132333 Publisher: LSU Press OUR PRICE: $36.10 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: June 2007 Annotation: This new study examines the Mississippi's role in the imagination of the times and explores its cultural position in antebellum literature, art, thought, and national life. From Thomas Jefferson's vision of the Mississippi to Andrew Jackson and the rowdy river culture of the nineteenth century, Smith charts the river's shifting importance in the making of the nation. He explores the accounts of European travelers including Frances Trollope, Charles Dickens, and William Makepeace Thackeray, whose views were heavily influenced by the world of the steamboat and plantation slavery. He also discusses the importance of visual representations of the Mississippi to reveal ways the river echoed notions of manifest destiny and westward movement. Finally, Smith's epilogue provides a discussion of the Mississippi during the Civil War and an introduction to Mark Twain. |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | American - General - History | United States - General |
Dewey: 810.937 |
LCCN: 2006032210 |
Series: Southern Literary Studies (Hardcover) |
Physical Information: 0.85" H x 6.34" W x 8.99" (1.13 lbs) 256 pages |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Even in the decades before Mark Twain enthralled the world with his evocative representations of the Mississippi, the river played an essential role in American culture and consciousness. Throughout the antebellum era, the Mississippi acted as a powerful symbol of America's conception of itself -- and the world's conception of America. As Twain understood, The Mississippi is well worth reading about. Thomas Ruys Smith's River of Dreams is an examination of the Mississippi's role in the antebellum imagination, exploring its cultural position in literature, art, thought, and national life. |