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An edition of The leisure ethic (1999)

The leisure ethic

work and play in American literature, 1840-1940

by

Cover of: The leisure ethic by William A. Gleason, William A. Gleason
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Last edited by MARC Bot
January 16, 2026 | History
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An edition of The leisure ethic (1999)

The leisure ethic

work and play in American literature, 1840-1940

by

At the Turn of the Last Century, as routinized industrial labor made a mockery of the gospel of work, Americans increasingly sought fulfillment not on the job but in their leisure activities. This book explores the multiple and, at times, contradictory tensions surrounding this turn to play and examines their impact on nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century American literature.

Arguing that American writers participated in the ongoing debates over labor and leisure more strenuously than is commonly understood, the author shows how literary narratives both responded to and helped shape the emerging gospel of play.

Broad in scope and method, and structured by a series of original and illuminating pairings of texts and authorsincluding Thoreau and Mark Twain, Abraham Cahan and Ole Rolvaag, Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Edna Ferber, James Weldon Johnson and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Theodore Dreiser and Richard Wright, and William Faulkner and Hurston - this book offers an important new direction for the study of labor, leisure, and representation.

Publish Date
Publisher
Stanford University Press
Language
English
Pages
446

Previews available in: English

Subjects

History History and criticism American literature Leisure Recreation in literature Literature and society Work in literature Play in literature Leisure in literature Sociology Histoire et critique Littérature et société Arbeid Loisir dans la littérature Amerikaans Literature Jeu dans la littérature Spiel Play and Playthings In literature Loisirs dans la littérature Umschulungswerkstätten für Siedler und Auswanderer Work Loisir Literatur English Recreatie Travail dans la littérature Letterkunde Littérature américaine Histoire Spel Leisure Activities Freizeit Arbeit American literature, history and criticism, 19th century American literature, history and criticism, 20th century Labor in literature LITERARY CRITICISM American General

Places

United States

Times

20th century 19th century
Edition Availability
Cover of: The leisure ethic
The leisure ethic: work and play in American literature, 1840-1940
1999, Stanford University Press
in English

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Book Details

Edition Notes

Includes bibliographical references (p. 355-434) and index.

Published in
Stanford, Calif

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
810.9/355
Library of Congress
PS217.L44 G58 1999, PS217.L44G58 1999, PS217.L44 G58 1999eb

The Physical Object

Pagination
xviii, 446 p. :
Number of pages
446

Edition Identifiers

Open Library
OL373337M
ISBN 10
0804733996, 0804734348
LCCN
98035016
OCLC/WorldCat
42855568, 39515051
LibraryThing
6832817
Goodreads
701315
4745010

Work Identifiers

Work ID
OL1942946W

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{{cite book|author=William A. Gleason |date=1999 |title=The leisure ethic |url=https://archive.org/details/leisureethicwork0000glea |publication-place=Stanford, Calif |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=0-8047-3399-6 |lccn=98035016 |oclc=42855568 |ol=373337M}}