A Skeptic's Guide to Writers' Houses

Anne Trubek

Published by University of Pennsylvania Press 2011

A Skeptic's Guide to Writers' Houses

Anne Trubek

https://doi.org/10.9783/9780812205817

Overview
Contents

About this book

Why is it that we visit writers' houses? Although admittedly skeptical about the stories these buildings tell us about their former inhabitants, Anne Trubek carries us along as she falls at least a little bit in love with each stop on her itinerary and finds in each some truth about literature, history, and contemporary America.

Author / Editor information

Anne Trubek's writing has appeared in numerous publications, including the Christian Science Monitor, Mother Jones, American Prospect, and Salon.com. She is Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Composition and English at Oberlin College.

Reviews

"A remarkable book: part travelogue, part rant, part memoir, part literary analysis and urban history, it is like nothing else I've ever read. In wondering why we look to writers' houses for inspiration when we could be looking to the writers' work, Trubek has—with humor, with self-deprecation, even with occasional anger and sadness—reminded us why we need literature in the first place."—Brock Clarke, author of An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England

"Why do people visit writer's homes? What are they looking for and what do they hope to take away that isn't sold in the gift shop? This memoir-travelogue takes you from Thoreau's Concord to Hemingway's Key West, exploring the tracks authors and their fans have laid down over the years. Trubek is a sharp-eyed observer, and you'll wish you could have been her travel companion."—Lev Raphael, Huffington Post

Named one of the seven best small-press books of the decade in a column in the Huffington Post

"An antic and intelligent antitravel guide, A Skeptic's Guide to Writer's Houses explores places that have served as pilgrimage sites, tokens of local pride and color, and zones that confound the canons of literary and historical interpretation. With a gimlet eye and indefatigable curiosity, Anne Trubek peers through the veil of domestic veneration that surrounds canonized authors and neglected masters alike. In the course of her skeptical odyssey, she discerns the curious ways in which we turn authors into household gods."—Matthew Battles, author of Library: An Unquiet History

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Chapter 1. The Irrational Allure of Writers’ Houses Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 2. Trying to Find Whitman in Camden Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
Chapter 3. Never the Twain Shall Meet Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	27
Chapter 4. The Concord Pilgrimage Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	43
Chapter 5. Hemingway’s Breadcrumb Trail Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	67
Chapter 6. Not That Tom Wolfe Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	89
Chapter 7. Best-Laid Plans at Jack London State Historic Park Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	103
Chapter 8. The Compensation of Paul Laurence Dunbar Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113
Chapter 9. Poe Houses and Arrested Decay Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	125
Chapter 10. At Home with Charles Chesnutt and Langston Hughes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	137
American Writers’ Houses Open to the Public Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	149
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	157
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	167

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 176
Illustrations
- Other: 10 illus.
Keywords: Literature; Literature; Cultural Studies

eBook

Published: July 11, 2011
ISBN: 9780812205817