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American Literature 75.2 (2003) 473-486



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Editions

"Face Zion Forward": First Writers of the Black Atlantic, 1785–1798 . Ed. Joanna Brooks and John Saillant. Boston: Northeastern Univ. Press. 2002. x, 242 pp. Cloth, $47.50; paper, $18.95.

The nature and purpose of postslavery black communities was debated well before Emancipation in 1863. Thousands who had fought for Britain in the Revolutionary War were freed from slavery at its close and settled in Nova Scotia. This volume features writings by key figures in this community, who discuss emigration to West Africa, religion, and the development of individual and community identities as free blacks. The collected writings of John Marrant, preacher and community leader, appear here, along with complementary writings by Prince Hall, pioneer of black Freemasonry, David George, and Boston King.

The Mysteries of New Orleans . By Baron Ludwig von Reizenstein. Ed. and trans. Steven Rowan. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press. 2002. xxxiii, 559 pp. Paper, $28.00.

This is the first English translation of a text first published serially in 1854–55, in the German-language New Orleans newspaper, the Louisiana Staats-Zeitung. This gothic urban mystery relates the coming of a two-hundred-year-old "proto-Nietzschean superman," heralded by the birth of a quadroon "black Messiah," who will exact retribution for the sin of slavery. Augmenting the controversial plot, the cast of characters includes a necrophiliac, a murderous priest, and the only appealing characters, a lesbian couple.

Selected Poems of Amy Lowell . Ed. Melissa Bradshaw and Adrienne Munich. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers Univ. Press. 2002. xlii, 135 pp. Cloth, $58.00; paper, $19.00.

Despite winning a Pulitzer Prize and publishing six volumes of poetry, two volumes of criticism, and a two-volume biography of John Keats, Amy Lowell's career as a poet has been overshadowed by her personal reputation as "a cigar-smoking [End Page 473] Boston Brahmin, lesbian lover, impresario, [and] entrepreneur." This volume presents a sampling of Lowell's diverse poetic pursuits, including traditional forms, cadenced verse, translations and adaptations of Asian poetry, Asian-inspired poetry, and polyphonic prose.

Tales of the Jazz Age . By F. Scott Fitzgerald. Ed. James L. W. West III. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press. 2002. xxviii, 539 pp. $65.00.

This edition comprises the complete text of Fitzgerald's second collection of short stories (1922), featuring "May Day" and "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz," as well as seven other stories published between 1923 and 1925, including "Dice, Brassknuckles and Guitar." West's introduction presents a textual history of the stories, including the process of determining their worthiness for inclusion. The volume also contains a thorough record of variants, detailed notes, and an earlier version of the table of contents.

The Professor's House . CSE Approved. By Willa Cather. Ed. Frederick M. Link, Kari A. Ronning, and James Woodress. Lincoln: Univ. of Nebraska Press. 2002. xii, 575 pp. $75.00.

Cather's famous novel about a middle-aged professor dissatisfied with his life's work and unsettled within his upwardly mobile family is reproduced in this edition with type, margins, and paper approximating Cather's preferences to the extent possible. It is complemented by a historical essay, a textual essay, a detailed record of textual variations, explanatory notes, photographs, maps, and two short pieces by Cather on Mesa Verde and on the novel.

Knowledge and Opinion: Essays and Literary Criticism of John G. Neihardt . Ed. Lori Holm Utecht. Lincoln: Univ. of Nebraska Press. 2002. xl, 240 pp. Paper, $39.95.

Perhaps better known for works like Black Elk Speaks or The Cycle of the West, Neihardt wrote over 2,500 reviews and essays between 1910 and 1942. In accordance with Neihardt's broad intellectual interest, this volume endeavors to provide a representative sampling of the range of topics he addressed, including the importance of Western classics, the two world wars, the Depression, and the role of literature. Eugene O'Neill, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Upton Sinclair are among the many authors reviewed in this volume.

Renaissance Man of Cannery Row: The Life and Letters of Edward F. Ricketts . Ed. Katherine A. Rodger. Tuscaloosa...

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