The Territory Ahead
by Wright Morris
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Book Summary Information
Author: Wright MorrisEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1978-06-01
ISBN: 0803281005
Number of pages: 247
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Book Reviews of The Territory Ahead
Book Review: Syncretic reading of mainstream American writers
Summary: 4 Stars
Morris' book was written in the late 1950's, before criticism became an exercise in ideology. This book is written in the mold of Matthiessen, Richard Chase, RWB Lewis, Richard Poirier, Leslie Fieldler, and even Harold Bloom; all critics who read a body of work and then illuminate connections therein.
Morris is largely critical of the mainstream of American literature, starting from Thoreau and WHitman, through Twain, Hemingway, WOlfe and James among others. Like Wendell Berry, he is critical of the theme of flight from civilization in this vein of US lit, as symbolic of a failure to address pressing socio-cultural issues in the art. Like Lawrence, he finds that this vein of lit seems fixated on writing books for boys, about people who cannot come to grips with adult life, and have thereby created a nostalgic world of the imagination out in the territories. Only in James does he find a writer who tries to address the true significance of American cultural life. But this leads him to his second criticism of American literature:
The overemphasis on style, which eventually becomes representative of the writer rather more heavily than any reliance upon themes. He is critical of the way that such writers as Hemingway, Faulkner and most particularly WOlfe become quite farcical in the way their later books recycle the same authorial voice, without really venturing anything new in terms of meaning.
Morris's book is still relevant because of the way he illuminates a problem that American literature still has. When you read such writers as Cormac McCarthy, you see how deeply the Hemingway/Faulkner voice has become entrenched in the minds of purportedly literary writers. You see popular writers like dave sedaris, dave foster wallace and dave eggers (god save us from more daves) for whom style is absolute; there is little of any literary merit in their work, yet they are lauded for their efforts because of their charmingly "literary" style.
So, for anyone interested in the state of American lit today, this is still a good read. If you are an aspiring writer, its even better, because it can help you put to bed some of the ghosts of these American giants. If you aim simply to cultivate your own critical faculty, this book again does offer some intriguing ways of looking at American literature.
It is interesting that he mentions Emerson only the briefest of times, thus steering clear of the man who Bloom asserts is the primal philosophic force in American psychological life, a sentiment with which I happen to agree. It is also interesting to note that there is little Emerson present in modern works of fiction; American writers have currently regressed to such a point that the gothic works of charles brockden brown are more likely the subconscious models than anything Emerson wrote. Emerson remains an overpowering master for most American writers who have difficulty reading outside the tradition, and thus are not able to overcome the anxiety of his influence. Otherwise they avoid him altogether and thus limit the relevance of their work. This in fact is what happened to Wright Morris, who did write a few novels, none of which are widely read any longer because he avoided wrestling with Emerson.
But his critical pen is sharp in this book, and it is thus still worth reading some 50 years after being written, and even though it really only deals with the old white man tradition.
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