Illinois prose writers
Subtitle: a selection.
By: Edited by Howard W. Webb, Jr.
Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press
Published: 1968
Place of publication: Carbondale
Language: eng
Number of pages: 147
Subjects: American prose literature -- Illinois.; Illinois -- Literary collections.
Description: Webb's sesquicentennial anthology is provocatively rich but frustratingly brief. Father Marest's description of the territory in 1712 and narrative of a harrowing wilderness journey, John Woods' specifications for building a log cabin, James Hall's overly literary portraits of Shawnneetown in 1828, Black Hawk's lament, and Eliza W. Farnham's lively, comic account of prairie customs and character - these graphically reconstruct the pioneer past. Three routine selections from Lincoln are readily available elsewhere. Chicago's Gilded Age returns to life with a dramatic account of the fire, Robert Herrick's cynical presentation of the Haymarket bombin and trial, Mr. Dooley's wise brogue on politics, and George Ade's predictions on growth and change. But the 20th century is inadequately represented, with only 31 pages and four authors - Sandburg's recollection of immigrant ethnic groups, Ring Lardner's baseball gags, Richard Wright's protest against Negro slums, and Robert Coover's horrifying narrative of a mine disaster. Missing are Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, Dreiser, Farrell, Motley, Algren, Bellow, and numerous others essential for a full picture. The critical introductions are perceptive, but the restricted scope and lack of bibliographies greatly reduce the book's scholarly value.
Notes: Bibliographical footnotes.
Table of contents: title: Letter to Father Germon, by Father G. Marest.; title: Building a log cabin, by J. Woods.; title: Shawnee town and its vicinity, by J. Hall.; title: An Indian's treaty, by B. Hawk.; title: A prairie bride and groom. A prairie circus. Prairie neighbors. By E. W. Farnham.; title: Letter to Joshua F. Speed. A house divided. Farewell address at Springfield, Illinois. By A. Lincoln.; title: The fire, by L. Tree.; title: The bomb and the trial of the anarchists, by R. Herrick.; title: Archey road. On reform candidates. By F. P. Dunne.; title: An old settler holds fast, by H. B. Fuller.; title: After the skyscrapers, what? by G. Ade.; title: Prairie town, by C. Sandburg.; title: Observations on a city series, by R. Lardner.; title: The morning of a native son, by R. Wright.; title: Disaster in deep-water no. 9, by R. Coover.