Howells in The Heath

Abstract

SINCE it was launched in a blaze of glory at the 1989 convention of the Modem Language Association (MLA), The Heath Anthology ofAmerican Literature has drawn kudos from ritually progressive academics, ever in quest of the cutting edge, as well as brickbats from programmatically conservative critics, ever on alert for the iniquities of tenured radicals. In a statement proudly broadcast by the publisher, the newly appointed associate editor of American Literature, Cathy N. Davidson, averred in 1989 that The Heath (as it is familiarly known) renders as pedagogy a movement in criticism and scholarship, to my mind, that has been the most significant development since World War II. As such it is a symbol, a symbol of both product and process in the remaking of American literature for present and future generations.' In contrast, William D. Schaefer, a former executive director of the MLA, puzzled over some of the authors listed in The Heath's table of contents: Who the hell are they?2 The clash of opinions, which the media reported as yet another salvo in the Culture Wars, was obligingly reduced to a sound bite by an unnamed spokesman for the Association of Departments of English: one extreme is a very conservative group saying we have a canon of great literature that shouldn't be altered. On the other side are people who say the canon has to be updated constantly as part of the ongoing expansion of knowledge. And the sides are doing battle.3 Any publisher would welcome such battle, for controversy is, by