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
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 table of contents pages can raise fundamental questions about the importance of literary movements; periodization; geographic, gender, race, class, and age representations of "America," and theoretical, 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 do the changing natures 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 indicated in a fall 1999 Heath Anthology of American Literature Newsletter article "The Tales Tables (of Contents) Tell," (included as the "Introduction" to this web site), the present 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.
There is still some emphasis on early American literature and the collection is certainly not exhaustive. The most significant improvement reflected in the present 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 publication time frame has also expanded back to 1829.
The web site is once again in transition. During the summer of 2009, we compared our collection to the anthologies list in the primary sources bibliography of Joseph Csicsila's Canons by Consensus: Critical Trends and American Literary Anthologies (2004). We added the missing volumes. We have also scanned all the subject indices (i.e., lists of all the American authors in each issue followed by the number of times that issue includes mention of articles and books about the author; 1963 — current) from the annual publication, American Literary Scholarship (ALS). These indices provide important historical insights about canon formation by suggesting which authors scholars deemed worthy of study since the mid-20th century. Other additional items scanned include Csicsila’s secondary bibliography of studies of canon formation and selected "The Extra" articles that focused on canon formation from the journal American Literature during the height of the Canon Wars in the 1980s.
We will move all the new material (at least 86 volumes) and the present web site to the Research Commons (D-Space) of the University of Texas at Arlington where the site can be better maintained. We are also hard at work making the future site searchable by year, author, editor, and anthology and selection title. The eventual goal over the next few years is a comprehensive collection that will eventually also include high school anthologies and, for example, permit Internet users to type in "Herman Melville" or "Toni Morrison" and find all the selections anthologized for these authors or selections from particular historical periods. This research archive will, thus, allow students, school boards, librarians, teachers, and researches to formulate accurate generalities about how anthology editors, publishers, and, by implication, academic institutions "behind" them defined American literature, Americans, and American culture.
Even with all these additions and improvements, the collection will still be selective, if we take into consideration developments such as the Pearson Custom Library of American Literature, which allows 