The lay of the land : metaphor as experience and history in American life and letters

204 Pages·7.26 MB·English

by  Annette Kolodny

Metaphor as Experience
and History in American
Life and Letters
by Annette Kolodny

The Lay of the Land

THE LAY
OF ™E LAND
Metaphor as Experience and History
in American Life and Letters
by Annette Kolodny
The University of North Carolina Press • Chapel Hill
Copyright © 1975 by
The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
First printing, May 1975
Second printing, February 1984
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 74-23950
ISBN 0-8078-1241-2
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Kolodny, Annette, 1941-
The lay of the land.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. American Literature-History and criticism. 2. United States-History-Philosoph
3. Nature in literature. I. Title.
PS88.K65 810'.9'36 74-23950
ISBN 0-8078-1241-2
ISBN 0-8078-4118-8
For my mother, Esther Rivkind Kolodny, in appreciation
of her love and unceasing encouragement;
*
and for my friend and teacher, Norman Qrabo, from
whom I will never stop learning.
Both, in their way, made this book possible.

Contents
Preface I ix
Abbreviations I xiii
1. Unearthing Her story
An Introduction I 3
2. Surveying the Virgin Land
The Documents of Exploration and Colonization, 1500-1740 I 10
3. Laying Waste Her Fields of Plenty
The Eighteenth Century I 26
The Visionary Line: The Poetry of Philip Freneau I 29
The Dubious Pleasures of an American Farmer:
Crevecoeur’s Letters and Sketches I 52
Transitions I 61
4. Singing Her Past and Singing Her Praises
The Nineteenth Century I 71
The Country as It Oughtta’ Be: John James Audubon I 74
Natty Bumppo as The American Dream: The Leatherstocking Novels
of James Fenimore Cooper I 89
Every Mother’s Son: The Revolutionary War Romances
of William Gilmore Simms I 115
The Closed Frontier I 132
5. Making It with Paradise
The Twentieth Century I 138
Some Thoughts for Our Bicentennial I 138
A Meditation on Metaphor I 148
Notes I 161
Bibliography I 175
Index I 181
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