Promotional Information

This innovative collection reinvents the standard American short fiction anthology and offers readers an invigorated, inclusive, and nuanced understanding of American literary history and culture from the Civil War to the end of World War I.

About the Author

Charles A. Johanningsmeier is a professor of English and Isaacson Chair at the University of Nebraska Omaha. As a print historian, his chief research interests have involved assessing how readers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries interacted with fiction texts published in various periodicals by authors such as Frank Norris, Stephen Crane, Sui Sin Far, Sarah Orne Jewett, Charles Chesnutt, Mary Wilkins Freeman, Henry James, and Willa Cather.

Jessica E. McCarthy is a lecturer at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She has published on Edith Wharton, Ellen Glasgow, and American literary naturalism.

Reviews

“An impressive collection that … highlights the ways short story authors of the period grappled with complex responses to an increasingly complicated nation. The anthology reminds readers of the contributions these authors made to the short story form and, more broadly, to American fiction. This valuable collection contains thoughtful annotations and comprehensive apparatus useful to instructors and students alike…. One of the finest anthologies of American Realist short story fiction available.” - Sterling Lecater Bland, Jr., professor of English, African American studies, and American studies, Rutgers University-Newark “An innovative and exciting selection of lesser-known but provocative texts by established writers as well as by authors not usually gathered into anthologies. The contents have been selected to challenge and expand the definition of ‘realism’-especially works that include sentimental and romantic elements and therefore more accurately reflect what readers encountered in the pages of periodicals … The result is a refreshing and intriguing anthology of more diverse subjects, offering a more accurate representation of the progressive and conservative views readers originally encountered.” - Keith Newlin, editor of the Oxford Handbook of American Literary Realism and Studies in American Naturalism An ambitious effort to recanonize the short fiction of the period. - Gary Scharnhorst (American Literary Realism) Johanningsmeier encourages instructors to devote attention to explaining "their rationale for choosing particular texts," allowing students to understand the educational impact of studying works that engage with difficult topics. This anthology takes a strong and much-needed stance on the importance of teaching works that may be upsetting and divisive, offering a thoughtful and assertive response to a cultural climate that is increasingly hesitant to engage with difficult topics that are nevertheless necessary for understanding American literature and the American experience. . . . Reimaging Realism is a useful, user-friendly, and, most importantly, provocative, anthology for teaching American Realist fiction that serves as a useful tool and prompt to reconsider Realism as a genre and a movement in creative and impactful ways. (American Periodicals)