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Patriotic Gore
Edmund Wilson
719 pages (2005); 1.9MB download
Rosetta Books; ISBN: 9780795326890
"Patriotic Gore" is a remarkable survey of Civil War literature, encompassing generals, society ladies, and novelists alike. The readings of these works are suffused throughout by Wilson's literary attentiveness and — occasionally — flashes of humor. Of Abraham Lincoln, for example, he writes, "There has undoubtedly been written about him more romantic and sentimental rubbish than about any other American figure, with the possible exception of Edgar Allan Poe."
Certainly one finds the books and personages that one would expect to find within these pages — Harriet Beecher Stowe, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, Mary Chestnut — but there are plenty of revelations for those who are not already intimately familiar with the period, such as the possible debt the realism of "The Red Badge of Courage" owes to the novelist John De Forest, or the charming erudition of Confederate General Richard Taylor. The editorial board of the Modern Library determined "Patriotic Gore" to be one of the 100 best nonfiction works of the 20th century.
Essayist Edmund Wilson was the leading American critic for much of the 20th century. An unusually versatile scholar, he not only wrote extensively on literature, he also contributed studies in history and social issues, as well as authoring his own fiction, poetry, and drama. He expressed his views in a prose style noted for its clarity and precision.
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