Explores the importance and complexity of classical allusiveness in the modern American novel

This book is an invaluable survey of the allusions to ancient Greek and Roman culture in the work of seven major modern American novelists: Willa Cather, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison, Philip Roth and Marilynne Robinson. Making the classical world accessible to all readers, it combines new close readings of three key texts by each author with overviews of the essential prior scholarship in the field. It also builds on archival research in documenting the nature and extent of each author's own familiarity with classical literature and languages.


Tessa Roynon is Senior Research Fellow at the Rothermere American Institute, University of Oxford.