Alone in America: The Stories that Matter

296 Pages·2013·1.07 MB·English

by  Robert A. Ferguson

R O B E R T A . F E R G U S O N
ALONE IN AMERICA
T H E S T O R I E S T H A T M A T T E R
ALONE IN AMERICA

ALONE IN AMERIC A
THE STORIES THAT MATTER
Robert A. Ferguson
h a r v a r d u n i v e r s i t y p r e s s
Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, En gland
2013
Copyright © 2013 by Robert A. Ferguson
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Ferguson, Robert A., 1942–
Alone in America : the stories that matter / Robert A. Ferguson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978- 0- 674- 06676- 2 (cloth; alk. paper)
1. American fi ction—History and criticism. 2. Loneliness in
literature. I. Title.
PS374.L56F47 2013
813.009'353—dc23 2012027363
For
DCD, DFB, and JMM,
who were there when being alone had its dangers,
and for
Priscilla Parkhurst Ferguson

CONTENTS
Prologue: The Lords of Life 1
1. Does Nobody Here Know Rip Van Winkle? 17
2. Nathaniel Hawthorne Dissects Betrayal 35
3. Louisa May Alcott Meets Mark Twain
over the Young Face of Change 61
4. Henry James and Zora Neale Hurston
Answer Defeat 90
5. Edith Wharton’s Anatomy of
Breakdown 116
Midpoint: The Lords of Life Revisited 135
6. The Immigrant Novel: Fear in America 141
viii Contents
7. William Faulkner and Toni Morrison
Plot Racial Difference 157
8. Saul Bellow Observes Old Age 180
9. Don DeLillo and Marilynne Robinson
Mourn Loss 201
10. Walt Whitman Finds the Courage to Be 231
Bibliography 253
Index 273
AC KNOW LEDG MENTS
John Paul Russo was an important catalyst at every stage
of this book. A lifetime of intellectual exchange has made
him a touchstone in what I write. Kenji Yoshino read an
entire version of the manuscript, gave crucial direction,
and offered the kind of advice you only get from a trusted
resource, the friend who is also a wise man. Michael T.
Gilmore supplied a vital critique of Chapter 2 and knew
how to offer support when progress was slow.
My editor, John Kulka, helped me to clarify the larger
themes and the or gan i za tion al structure of the manu-
script. His faith in the project and his careful sugges-
tions, never forced, w ere crucial throughout a period of
clarifi cation, revision, and rearrangement. Two anony-
mous outside evaluators for Harvard University Press