{"product_id":"a-road-course-in-early-thomas-hallock-9780817320836","title":"A Road Course in Early American Literature: Travel and Teaching from Atzlán to Amherst","description":"\u003cb\u003eEssays that fuse literary scholarship and personal travelogue to explore American identity\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eA Road Course in Early American Literature: Travel and Teaching from Atzlán to Amherst \u003c\/i\u003eexplores a two-part question: what does travel teach us about literature, and how can reading guide us to a deeper understanding of place and identity? Thomas Hallock charts a teacher's journey to answering these questions, framing personal experiences around the continued need for a survey course covering early American literature up to the mid-nineteenth century. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Hallock approaches literary study from the overlapping perspectives of pedagogue, scholar, unrepentant tourist, husband, father, friend, and son. Building on Ralph Waldo Emerson's premise that there is \"creative reading as well as creative writing,\" Hallock turns to the vibrant and accessible tradition of American travel writing, employing the form of biblio-memoir to bridge the impasse between public and academic discourse and reintroduce the dynamic field of early American literature to wider audiences. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Hallock's own road course begins and ends at the Lowcountry of Georgia and South Carolina, following a circular structure of reflection. He weaves his journey through a wide swath of American literatures and authors: from Native American and African American oral traditions, to Wheatley and Equiano, through Emerson, Poe, and Dickinson, among others. A series of longer, place-oriented narratives explore familiar and lesser-known literary works from the sixteenth-century invasion of Florida through the Mexican War of 1846-1848 and the American Civil War. Shorter chapters bridge the book's central themes--the mapping of cognitive and physical space, our personal stake in reading, the tensions that follow earlier acts of erasure, and the impossibility of ever fully shutting out the past. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Exploring complex cultural histories and contemporary landscapes filled with ghosts and new voices, this volume draws inspiration from a tradition of travel, place-oriented, and literature-based works ranging from William Carlos Williams's \u003ci\u003eIn the American Grain \u003c\/i\u003eand Jack Kerouac's \u003ci\u003eOn the Road \u003c\/i\u003eto Alice Walker's \u003ci\u003eIn Search of Our Mother's Gardens\u003c\/i\u003e, Wendy Lesser's \u003ci\u003eWhy I Read: The Serious Pleasure of Books\u003c\/i\u003e, and Rebecca Mead's \u003ci\u003eMy Life in Middlemarch\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e An accompanying bibliographic essay is periodically updated and available at Hallock's website: www.roadcourse.us. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Thomas Hallock\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0817320830\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780817320836\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University Alabama Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/23\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 232\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.05lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.10h x 6.00w x 1.00d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/01\/2021","brand":"Thomas Hallock","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48086958637311,"sku":"9780817320836","price":49.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_f1c59431-c0a0-49f8-bf51-11340229a5cb.jpg?v=1769097481","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/a-road-course-in-early-thomas-hallock-9780817320836","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}