EMERGENT U.S. LITERATURES
Emergent U.S. Literatures
From Multiculturalism to Cosmopolitanism in the Late Twentieth Century
Cyrus R. K. Patell
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
© 2014 by New York University
All rights reserved
References to Internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing.
Neither the author nor New York University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Patell, Cyrus R. K.
Emergent U.S. literatures : from multiculturalism to cosmopolitanism in the late twentieth century / Cyrus Patell.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4798-9372-0 (hardback) -- ISBN 978-1-4798-7338-8 (pb)
1. American literature--Minority authors--History and criticism. 2. American literature--20th century--History and criticism. 3. Multiculturalism in literature. 4. Cosmopolitanism in literature. I. Title.
PS153.M56P38 2014
810.9’920693--dc23
2014020830
New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability. We strive to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the greatest extent possible in publishing our books.
Manufactured in the United States of America
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CONTENTS
Introduction: Theorizing the Emergent
3 The Politics of Early Twentieth-Century U.S. Literary History
Conclusion: Emergent Literatures and Cosmopolitan Conversation
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book has its origins in my contribution to the Cambridge History of American Literature, Volume Eight: Prose, 1940–1990, which was edited by Sacvan Bercovitch and published in 1999. I am grateful to Saki for his years of mentoring and friendship, and particularly for inviting me to participate in the Cambridge History project, first as the Associate Editor for volumes one and two, then as a contributor to volume seven. For that, and for countless other moments of scholarly inspiration, I will always be in his debt.
My interest in the dynamics of emergent literatures began to take shape during my tenure as President’s Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California at Berkeley from 1991 to 1993. I am grateful both to the UC President’s Office and to the Department of English at Berkeley for providing me with the resources necessary to begin the research published here. I am also grateful for grants from New York University’s Research Challenge Fund and the Stein Fund of the NYU English Department.
I am deeply grateful to Eric Zinner, my editor at New York University Press, for believing that my account of late twentieth-century emergent U.S. literatures could emerge from the cocoon of the Cambridge History transformed into something that could take flight on its own and for sticking with the project through three rounds of revision. I also owe a debt of gratitude to Amritjit Singh and three additional, anonymous readers who critiqued the manuscript for NYU Press at different stages. The suggestions made by Eric and the readers enabled me to improve the book and sharpen its argument in ways that I could not have foreseen.
I owe thanks to three research assistants, Amanda Rowell, Lindsay Reckson, and Allison Green, who spent time helping me to refine different aspects of the project. Over the years, colleagues and friends generously took time out to read portions of the manuscript and offered suggestions that have proved to be invaluable. I want to cite, particularly, Nancy Bentley, Kyung-Sook Boo, Andrew Brown, T. Susan Chang, Una Chaudhuri, Elizabeth Fowler, Julie Greenblatt, Josephine Hendin, Suzanne Keen, Ellyn Lem, Shireen Patell, Ray Ryan, Anne Sanow, Karen Skinazi, Werner Sollors, and Blakey Vermeule.
Two of my colleagues in the NYU English Department have been particularly inspirational—Philip Brian Harper and Bryan Waterman—and I thank them for the collegiality, brilliant ideas, and good cheer that they have shared with me over the years.
At NYU Abu Dhabi, my colleagues and students have helped me to understand cosmopolitanism—and its crucial importance for the future of our global civilization—in ways that I could not have imagined when New York was the primary point of reference for my professional life. I am particularly grateful for the friendship of Shamoon Zamir, who has helped me to rekindle my love of classic literature of all kinds.
I am fortunate to have had inspirational teachers at every stage of my life. I thank Mary Evelyn Bruce, Thomas Squire, Jane Mallison, Gregory Lombardo, Gilbert Smith, Donald Hull, John V. Kelleher, Warner Berthoff, Saki Bercovitch, Leo Marx, Werner Sollors, and Philip Fisher for schooling me in the joys of learning and scholarship.
Special thanks are due to my friends Rosa Choi and Wasel Safwan Choi, who exemplify the kind of boundary-crossing I describe in my first chapter. I’m glad to have a painting by Wasel on the front cover of the book.
Completing this project would not have been possible without the love and guidance of my wife and colleague, Deborah Lindsay Williams, my sine qua non. She has read drafts of this manuscript more times than either of us can count. Without her belief in its importance, I surely would not have had the fortitude to put it through all those rounds of revision.
I dedicated my contribution to the Cambridge History of American Literature to my late grandmother Francisca D. Raña, who emigrated to the United States from the Philippines in 1971 and who became an American citizen twenty-five years later at the age of ninety-two. She lived for just over a century, and I was privileged to be able to celebrate her hundredth birthday with her.
I dedicate the present book to my parents