The American Dream Reconsidered

The American Dream Reconsidered addresses readers of
Shakespearean and American literature alike. This
study aims to re-position William Shakespeare's The
Tempest in world literature, using and
re-interpreting Leo Marx's thesis that The Tempest
may be considered "a prologue to American
literature." Focusing on The Tempest in the first
half of her work, the author points out novel aspects
of the play that may be connected to the European
experience of the New World, prefiguring even the
concept of the later American dream. The chapters
that follow the analysis of the Shakespearean play
take a glimpse at American literary history and
outline how the previously examined three major
components time, nature and magic appear in the
American literary heritage up to the present. The
examples presented are by authors from Washington
Irving to Sandra Cisneros, and include a profound
analysis of Linda Hogan's Power, the novel that, as
Limpár argues, indicates the start of a new process
in American literature by opposing the intense myth
destruction of the past two centuries and re-creating
the myth.

Autorentext
Ildikó Limpár received her Ph.D. in English Renaissance and
Baroque Literature from Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest
(Hungary) in 2005. Presently she teaches American literature at
Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Piliscsaba (Hungary). She is
also an Egyptologist, a playwright, and a mother of two.

Klappentext
The American Dream Reconsidered addresses readers of Shakespearean and American literature alike. This study aims to re-position William Shakespeare's The Tempest in world literature, using and re-interpreting Leo Marx's thesis that The Tempest may be considered "a prologue to American literature." Focusing on The Tempest in the first half of her work, the author points out novel aspects of the play that may be connected to the European experience of the New World, prefiguring even the concept of the later American dream. The chapters that follow the analysis of the Shakespearean play take a glimpse at American literary history and outline how the previously examined three major components-time, nature and magic-appear in the American literary heritage up to the present. The examples presented are by authors from Washington Irving to Sandra Cisneros, and include a profound analysis of Linda Hogan's Power, the novel that, as Limpár argues, indicates the start of a new process in American literature by opposing the intense myth destruction of the past two centuries and re-creating the myth.