Late-19th-Century Literature

Abstract

Literary critics have increasingly employed archaeological methods, discovering or rediscovering buried artifacts that shed light on past cultural practices but also on current issues. This focus on lesser-known works and neglected authors reveals a shifting literary canon, highlighting current social and cultural concerns. Although aesthetic, rhetorical, and structural analysis continues to serve as a methodology, art for art’s sake has taken a back seat to art as cultural artifact, whether the artifact is an unfamiliar poem or a once popular novel. Nowhere is this trend more obvious than in the field of African American literature, but even in the examination of realists and naturalists we find a focus on neglected authors and forgotten works. In this recovery of overlooked texts there is an emphasis not only on lesser-known compositions but also on the reasons they have been neglected.