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Books
& Literature The Literature of the Civil War
One
of the anomalies of the American literary imagination has been its
inability - in spite of the vast amount of ink consumed in the effort - to
derive a major poem, novel, or play from the central crisis in the
national existence. ... Literature of and about the Civil War far exceeds a lifetime list of readings. Both North and South, the number of volumes published about the war -- in histories, memoirs, biographies, novels, poems, short stories, and more ... not to mention the archival records of political speeches, military campaigns, diaries, letters, and the numerous scholarly works about the primary sources themselves -- all would fill a considerable library. ... And nearly all, it seems, are available in some form or another on the web. {See this month's Links to Books & Lit On-Line for more on that score.} ... If the contention of the editors of the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, quoted above, is true, perhaps it is because the full scope of the Civil War -- like any war of such a magnitude -- may lie beyond the grasp of imagination. There is no way to do justice to it all. The history may leave out the poignant or painful reminiscences ... the latter, whether in diaries or novels or elsewhere, will almost always exclude an analysis of the larger context of the war. ... What satisfies the reader who wants to know 'what it was like' is likely to leave those who want to know 'what happened' at a loss. ... There are differences, too, in temperament and attitude. Some writers celebrate victory as others mourn defeat. Some chronicle their own more intimate experiences, while others try to distance themselves and present as objective and account as possible. Still others act as apologists for a particular perspective. And some, as the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture also points out, become more concerned with the before or after of the war than with the war itself: "... one of the prominent characteristics of the southern literary mind ... has been the compulsive remembrance of the Civil War. But the southern writer ... has been less concerned to reconstruct the actual time of the struggle than to recount the consequent loss of the antebellum southern culture." All this conspires, then, to prevent us from offering even the most brief reading list to be recommended. The only recourse is to further narrow one's focus. ... In that light, we've chosen to limit our focus to works by those whose experiences were contemporary with the events leading up to the war, those who experienced it at first hand, and those who were present for the period of Reconstruction. Moreover, we limited our selections to those who are well recognized as authors in their own right. Writers like Melville, Walt Whitman, Louisa May Alcott, Mark Twain, and others ... and even as seemingly an unlikely a figure {at least in this regard} as Karl Marx. All provide us with first-hand responses to the war -- its causes and characters, its history and its impacts. ... Marx, in fact, may provide an interesting example. ... Writing from the distance of London, Marx's "The North American Civil War" provides what has to be one of the most concise and well-informed contemporary histories of the causes of and events leading up to the Civil War. From the last Continental Congress [1787] and the first Constitutional Congress [1789-90], through the Missouri Compromise [1820] and the Kansas-Nebraska Bill [1854], to the Dred Scott decision [1857] and the particulars of the formation of the Republican Party and platform -- Marx presents all these events pointedly and concisely, providing context and causes, responses and counters. ... Here is an excerpt:
For those interested in the literature of the period, then, we invite you to take a look at this month's Local Writing: Selected Literature of the Civil War. There, you will find a brief description of and a link to several texts from the authors we've chosen. Obviously 'local' this month goes well beyond the local writers we usually feature in this section. But it does include a link to some of the writings available on-line by Vermont soldiers and authors, too. ... Needless to say, had someone else compiled the list -- someone with a greater depth of knowledge than we could bring to the subject -- the list probably would have been very different. Nonetheless, we tried to take a representative sampling, in terms of both time and perspective. We hope you enjoy them. ... lmc Click here to go to Selected Literature of the Civil War ... . ******* ******* We're thinking about making a Best Books list {see our first Best Books survey and results in Back Issues ...}an on-going feature here at DownStreet. In addition, we'd like to hear from more book clubs in the area, whether open to new members or not. Either way, we'd like to publish your reading lists, both here in the magazine, or in our Community Pages. If your book club or reading group is interested in participating, please e-mail us at ... Let us know the name, if any, of your club or group, how many members and if you're open to new members, and where and when you meet. Finally, don't forget tell us about your recent or up-coming reading list. . ******* ******* If you'd like to submit a book review, whether of a new title or something past, please e-mail us at books@downstreetmagazine.com. The e-mail should contain your name, address, and a phone number where we can reach you. You may also send a copy of your proposed review. The text can either be included in the body of the e-mail, or you can send it as an attachment in just about any word processing format. Please be sure to include information for the title, author and publisher/edition. ... If your review is accepted, we will pay a small honorarium for your interest & your time. [See Freelancers Wanted for more details.] If you would like to advertise in this section, or throughout the magazine, please visit our Advertising Info Pages ... or call, write, or e-mail ads@downstreetmagazine.com. ******* ******* . |
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