Composing Cultures: Modernism, American Literary Studies, and the Problem of Culture

Index

aesthetic form: of American Studies, 188–89; and cultural studies, 185–86; culture as, 4, 5, 18, 43, 51, 59, 117–18, 181; in literary studies, 186–87; of poetry, 6, 121–22, 160; regionalism and, 21, 59, 89, 115, 156; and whole way of life, 186 aesthetic object: culture as, 48, 54, 74, 150, 182, 190; Moby-Dick as, 120, 122, 128; space and, 83; whole cultures as, 54, 128, 137–38, 141, 205n34; work of art as, 38 aesthetic(s): anthropology and, 58; attitude, 193; Crocean, 121–23; of culture, 59, 84, 114, 119, 133, 182; as global and local, 133, 189; knowledge as, 101; in literary studies, 22, 61, 84, 140; in modernist art, 51; and the nation, 4, 133, 189; regionalism and, 157; and Southwest Indian art, 60; Spingarn’s theory of, 114, 121–23 agrarianism, Southern: culture, 153–55; politics, 138–39; writers/writings, 21, 150, 153, 176 American culture, 16, 32–33, 89; as an oxymoron, 52, 124; definitions of, 2, 11; as divided, 33–34, 88, 91–92; as fragmented and spurious, 55, 72, 85, 127–28; homogeneity of, 158, 188; immigration and, 11, 28–29, 131; material-ideal fusion of, 111; Melville revival and, 90; and national culture, 56, 127; values of, 129, 130–31, 167 Americanization, 29, 31, 128 American modernism, 8, 25, 97, 133, 201n54; problem of culture in, 4, 23, 53, 181 American Renaissance, 86, 112 American Renaissance (Matthiessen), 4, 86, 112, 131 American Southwest: Cather’s trips to, 61–63; Pueblo Indians of, 50–51, 62–63; tourism and exploration, 50–51, 63, 200n50 American Studies, 183, 213n84; aesthetics and, 188–89; critics, 3–4, 190; homogeneity of, 132; Melville studies and, 86–87; nationalist origins of, 6, 133–34, 182, 190; rise of, 130–31 America’s Coming of Age (Brooks), 9, 24–25, 119; focal center theory, 38, 109, 116; highbrow/lowbrow dualism, 19, 24, 108, 111; immigration in, 29; living culture, 37–39; notion of divided America, 19, 33–34, 42; organic culture in, 35, 53; “usable past” concept, 88. See also Brooks, Van Wyck Ancient Society (Morgan), 65 Anderson, Charles, 93, 207n15, 208n20 anthropology: and aesthetic objects, 48–49, 74; comparative form of, 146; cultural pluralism and, 16–17, 156; and culture rescue and decline, 178–79; evolutionary approaches, 12–13 Index 220 / INDEX Brodhead, Richard, 23, 28, 52, 212n70 Brooks, Cleanth, 17, 82, 123 Brooks, Van Wyck: on Arnoldian culture, 36–37; background, 33, 198n15; characterization of Whitman, 37–38, 40; connection to Sapir, 27, 205n36; cultural metaphors, 35, 38, 119; definition of culture, 23, 24–25; on experience, 35–36, 38, 41, 54; on highbrow/lowbrow division, 19, 33–34, 37, 42, 44, 99–100, 111; on immigration, 29; literary achievements, 24; living culture theory, 35, 37–40, 42; on Melville, 90, 107–13, 134; national culture theory, 9, 25, 39–42, 56, 111, 182; on organic culture and art, 39, 42, 90, 92, 109; view of Dickinson, 9–10 Brooks, Van Wyck, works: “Amor Fati,” 112; The Flowering of New England, 1815– 1865, 10; New England: Indian Summer, 1865–1915, 9–10; “On Creating a Usable Past,” 41, 108; “Reviewer’s Notebook,” 88–89, 108–10, 113; “The Culture of Industrialism,” 33–34, 36; “Toward a National Culture,” 10, 33, 35–36, 39–41; Wine of the Puritans, 110–11. See also America’s Coming of Age (Brooks) canon formation, 10; critics of, 16; culture and, 6, 89, 133; Melville revival and, 18, 20, 87–88, 98 Castronovo, Russ, 4, 133, 186, 189 Cather, Willa: Alexander’s Bridge, 61; composition theory, 75; criticism of, 59–60; literary achievements, 59–60; Mesa Verde essay, 60, 76, 202n11; My Ántonia, 59, 70; “Nebraska: The End of the First Cycle,” 57–58; “On the Art of Fiction,” 111–12, 204n33; O Pioneers!, 59, 70, 203n25; on Sarah Orne Jewett, 75–76, 78, 204n33; social connections, 72; trips to the American Southwest, 61–63, 72; use of art/artifacts in writings, 60, 64, 66–70, 77, 202n10. See also Professor’s House, The (Cather); Song of the Lark, The (Cather) civilization, American, 11, 27, 67, 130–31, 158; division in, 19, 25, 44, 109, 111, 118 Civil War, 38, 125, 155, 172 Clifford, James, 75, 103, 105, 176 Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 38, 109 anthropology (continued): literary circles and, 25–26; literary modernism and, 13, 53, 176, 179; modernist, 23, 51, 81–82, 143–44, 175–76, 179; New Criticism and, 20, 22, 179, 187; participant...