Description
Book SynopsisSketching the socially marginal, ingenuous, traveling characters common to both old and new versions, this title shows how the new American picaresque transforms the satirical aims of the original into an effort to map and catalog the immensity and variety of America.
Trade Review"An essential source for scholars who wish to understand how contemporary American literature reflects American culture, this unique book is an important contribution to the literature." -- Choice "[An] impressive, voluminously annotated study... Recommended to students of religion, whether their approach be primarily sociological or literary of from the vantage point of cultural studies." -- Eric Ziolkowski, The Journal of Religion ADVANCE PRAISE "A fascinating study of American novels whose antiheroes go on the road to comment on contemporary social issues." -- Anne Cruz, author of Discourses of Poverty: Social Reform and the Picaresque Novel in Early Modern Spain "From start to finish, Road-Book America is instructive and provocative. Not only scholars but anyone deeply interested in American life and literature will find Sherrill's book significant and scintillating." -- John K. Roth, author of American Diversity, American Identity: The Lives and Works of 145 Writers Who Define the American Experience "By lifting up an enormous and neglected body of fresh American literature, Sherrill has opened a new window on contemporary American life. His book taught me what I have not learned from the polemicists: that America is a wild and various place, untamed by simple categories yet available to those who trail behind the American picaros and picaras." -- William D. Dean, author of The Religious Critic in American Culture
