Technology in American Literature

by Monahan, Kathleen N.; Nolan, James S.

• ISBN13: 9780761817093
• ISBN10: 0761817093
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-07-05
• Publisher: UPA

Summary

Is technology a boon to humanity, providing us with the means to further the dignity and prosperity of the human race? Or is it a deceptive lure that will draw society into a mind-numbing state, where our essence is stripped and we become machines ourselves? Throughout American literature, authors have expressed their reaction to the rapidly progressing society in which they lived. This reader draws together works that explore both answers to the question of technology's beneficence. Three sections comprise the book, which contains literature from the 1880's to the year 2000. Technology in American Literature is a great reference source for literature classes, as well as for technological institutions seeking to introduce humanities into the curriculum.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Acknowledgements	ix
The 1880's to the 1920's
Introduction	1	(3)
From The Great Stone of Sardis	4	(5)
Frank Stockton
From Through the Earth	9	(9)
Clement Fezendie
From The Causes of American Nervousness	18	(7)
George M. Beard
From Edison's Conquest of Mars	25	(20)
Garrett Serviss
From Looking Backward and Equality	45	(12)
Edward Bellamy
From Colonel Sellers as a Scientist	57	(28)
Mark Twain
William Dean Howells
``Mannahatta''	85	(2)
Walt Whitman
``As I Walk These Broad Majestic Days''	87	(1)
Walt Whitman
``Orange Buds by Mail from Florida''	88	(1)
Walt Whitman
``Years of the Modern''	89	(2)
Walt Whitman
``In the Sleeper''	91	(1)
Walt Whitman
From The Octopus	92	(6)
Frank Norris
``Factory Windows Are Always Broken''	98	(1)
Vachel Lindsay
``In the Station of the Metro''	99	(1)
Ezra Pound
From The Man Who Ended War	100	(13)
Hollis Godfrey
``The Dynamo and the Virgin''	113	(10)
Henry Adams
The 1920's to the 1960's
Introduction	123	(2)
``Progress''	125	(2)
E.B. White
``Lift Up Thine Eyes''	127	(6)
Sherwood Anderson
``Mr. Murphy of New York''	133	(15)
Thomas McMorrow
From Maza of the Moon	148	(4)
Otis Adelbert Kline
``The Sunless Sea''	152	(14)
Rachel Carson
``pity this busy monster, manunkind''	166	(1)
E.E. Cummings
From The Illustrated Man	167	(13)
Ray Bradbury
``Merritt Parkway''	180	(2)
Denise Levertov
From ``Chicago Poem''	182	(2)
Lew Welch
From Visit to a Small Planet	184	(21)
Gore Vidal
The 1960's to 2000
Introduction	205	(3)
``Beer Can''	208	(1)
John Updike
``The Mouth of the Hudson''	209	(2)
Robert Lowell
``Eco-Catastrophe''	211	(11)
Paul Ehrlich
``The Filling Station''	222	(2)
Elizabeth Bishop
From I, Robot	224	(25)
Isaac Asimov
``Resisting Big Brother''	249	(5)
Samuel Florman
From He, She and It	254	(8)
Marge Piercy
``Interstellar Tract''	262	(3)
Bruce Boston
``Anatomical Transparencies''	265	(2)
Robert Frazier
``Looking Back at Apollo''	267	(2)
Steve Rasnic Tem
``My Mother and the Wheel of Fire''	269	(3)
Al Zolynas
``A Clean Escape''	272
John Kessel