Children of the Raven and the Whale: Visions and Revisions in American Literature

Taking its cue from Perry Miller's 1956 classic of American literary criticism, The Raven and the Whale: The War of Words and Wits in the Era of Poe and Melville, Caroline Chamberlin Hellman's new book examines ways in which contemporary multi-ethnic writers of the United States have responded to nineteenth- and early twentieth century texts historically central to the American literary canon.

Each chapter of Children of the Raven and the Whale looks down the roads American literature ultima...