"1507 to 2008: Making A New Literary History of America" with Greil Marcus February 8, 2010

Greil Marcus, co-editor of the popular new anthology, A New Literary History of America, talks about the project with contributors and University of Minnesota professors David Treuer (also on the book's editorial board), Michael Gaudio, and Paula Rabinowitz.

Since its publication, Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors' 2009 anthology A New Literary History of America (Harvard University Press) has been inciting arguments and landing on “best of” lists across the country. Surging beyond the traditional catalogue of literary classics, the editors chose to depict America as “a nation making itself up as it goes along” by focusing on the country's speeches and images, letters and poetry, fiction, movies, technological inventions, and popular music, from the extraordinary (Moby-Dick, Lincoln's second inaugural address) to the mundane (pornography, the telephone).

What is the story behind this inclusiveness? Why Dr. Seuss but not Updike? Which of the critical essays featured resonate most for the editors and other contributors? Find out at this special event sponsored by the University of Minnesota Department of English and the Weisman Museum, and part of the Weisman exhibit Common Sense: Art and the Quotidian, opening February 6, 2010. The Weisman offers free gallery tours before (6 pm) and after this panel discussion. Free and open to the public.

Marcus is also the author of Lipstick Traces, The Shape of Things to Come, Mystery Train, and other books. David Treuer is the author of The Translation of Dr. Apelles and Native American Fiction: A User's Manual, among others; he is Associate Professor of English at the U. Paula Rabinowitz is Professor of English here and author of They Must Be Represented: The Politics of Documentary and Black & White & Noir: America's Pulp Modernism. Associate Professor of Art Michael Gaudio's most recent book is Engraving the Savage: The New World and Techniques of Civilization.

Official Website: http://english.umn.edu/engagement/ANewLiteraryHistoryofAmerica.html