Surveyors of Customs: American Literature as Cultural Analysis

by Joel Pfister

Book Overview

In 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, fired from Salem's Custom House and returning to writing, reconceived his old job title, Surveyor of Customs, as his new one. Taking seriously this naming of the American author's project, Joel Pfister argues that writers from Benjamin Franklin to Louise Erdrich can be read as critical "surveyors" of customs, culture, hegemony, capitalism's emotional logic, and much else.

Literary surveyors have helped make possible...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0190276150
• ISBN13: 9780190276157
• Release Date: December 2015
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.3" x 9.3"