Spoon River anthology
By: by Edgar Lee Masters ; with an introduction by John Hollander
Contributors: Hollander, John
Publisher: Signet; Signet Classics
Published: 1992
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 285
ISBN-13: 9780451525307
Description: In 1915, Edgar Lee Masters published a book of dramatic monologues written in free verse about a fictional town called Spoon River. Based on the midwestern towns where Edgar Lee Masters grew up, the shocking scandals and secret tragedies of Spoon River were immediately recognized by readers as authentic. Masters raises the dead "sleeping on the hill" in the village cemetery to tell the truth about their lives, and their testimony topples the American myth of the moral superiority of small-town life. Spoon River is as undeniably corrupt and truel as the big city, and is home to murderers, drunkards, crooked bankers, lechers, bitter wives and abusive husbands, failed dreamers, and a few good souls. The freshness of this landmark work has not diminished, and Spoon River Anthology remains an American classic.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 285).