Overview
- Fills a critical scholarly void, representing the first full-length study of the Federal Writers’ Project and its impact
- Pores over an abundance of archival research, including historical documents and manuscripts
- Features writers Ralph Ellison and Nelson Algren to showcase the larger impact of the Federal Writers’ Project
Part of the book series: American Literature Readings in the 21st Century (ALTC)
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Table of contents (6 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
The first book-length literary analysis of the WPA’s Federal Writers’ Project (FWP)—a massive New Deal program that put thousands to work documenting the country during the Depression. Drawing on critical histories, archival documents, and select works of fiction, the book examines the nature and history of the FWP’s documentary method and its literary imprint, particularly on three key black American writers: Ralph Ellison, Dorothy West, and Margaret Walker. By aiming their documentary lenses so precisely on individual voices, folklore, and cultural communities, FWP writers would ultimately eschew the social realism of thirties culture in favor of themes surrounding personal and cultural identities in the postwar era. This concise volume demonstrates how the FWP served as a repository from which many of the most treasured 20th century writers drew material, techniques, and philosophical direction in ways that would help steer the course of American writing.
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Sara Rutkowski is Professor of Literature and Writing at the City University of New York: Kingsborough Community College.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Literary Legacies of the Federal Writers’ Project
Book Subtitle: Voices of the Depression in the American Postwar Era
Authors: Sara Rutkowski
Series Title: American Literature Readings in the 21st Century
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53777-1
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-53776-4Published: 25 April 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-85241-6Published: 25 July 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-53777-1Published: 17 April 2017
Series ISSN: 2634-579X
Series E-ISSN: 2634-5803
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: IX, 110
Topics: Twentieth-Century Literature, North American Literature, Literary History