Title: Loose Ends
First published: 1996
Description: In this study of American cultural production from the colonial era to the present, Russell Reising takes up the loose ends of popular American narratives to craft a new theory of narrative closure. In the range of works examined here Reising finds endings that violate all existing theories of closure, and narratives that expose the often unarticulated issues that inspired these texts.

Pursuing the implications of these failed moments of closure, Reising elaborates on topics ranging from the roots of domestic violence and mass murder in early American religious texts to the pornographic imperative of mid-century nature writing, and from James's "descent" into naturalist and feminist fiction to Dumbo's explosive projection of commercial, racial, and political agendas for postwar U.S. culture.
Subjects: Political and social views, Social problems in literature, Literature and society, Closure (Rhetoric), History and criticism, American literature, Amerikaans, Letterkunde, Wieland (Brown, Charles Brockden), Sozialer Konflikt, Roman, Israel Potter (Melville, Herman), Einde (letterkunde), Sozialer Konflikt (Motiv), American literature, history and criticism, Brown, charles brockden, 1771-1810, James, henry, 1843-1916, Wheatley, phillis, 1753-1784, Melville, herman, 1819-1891, Dickinson, emily, 1830-1886
Places: United States
People: Herman Melville (1819-1891), Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784), Henry James (1843-1916), Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), Charles Brockden Brown (1771-1810)
LC classification: PS169.S57 R45 1996