COMING IN MARCH, 2009

From OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

A PUBLISHING OCCASION

When Novak's "Voyages of the Self: Pairs, Parallels and Patterns in American Art and

Culture" was published in hardback in Fall, 2007, it was recognized as a "a sweeping

contribution to American cultural history, brimming with fresh insights and unexpected

revelations" (David Reynolds).

 

Professor Novak's books have profoundly affected the way we see American culture. When

we received "Voyages" we decided to re-publish her pioneering "American Painting of the

Nineteenth Century ('probably the best book ever written in the field": Hilton Kramer) and her

ground-breaking "Nature and Culture", nominated for several prizes and described by the New

York Times (which cited it as one of the year's ten best books) as "a miracle."

 

The publication of "Voyages"completes an historic trilogy on what Robert Hughes (referring

to "Nature and Culture") called "some of the deepest fantasies of American culture". For the

first time, Novak's historic contributions are available together in paperback, beautifully bound

and generously illustrated.

 

The three volumes trace Novak's development of key themes: The identification of God with

nature, American goodness, and its corollary, the denial of evil; the development of an

enduring American pragmatism that deals ad hoc with contemporary problems, the sources of

a nationalistic rhetoric that fuses God, nation, and nature in a durable trinity still active in large

segments of our political life.

 

In "Voyages of the Self' Novak, as she did in "Nature and Culture" diversifies her inquiry in

several contiguous fields: philosophy, religion, science, now stressing the iconic literary

figures (Emerson, Whitman, William James, Dickinson, Olson) that she pairs with the

classical canon of American painters (Copley, Lane, Church, Homer, Ryder, Jackson

Pollock). In an extraordinary chapter, she examines the parallel religious and philosophical

beliefs of Thoreau, and those of the American Indians of which Emerson and Thoreau were

unaware.

 

Novak's wide erudition enables her to cross disciplinary borders with ease. "Long

acknowledged as America's premier guide across these borders" writes Giles Gunn, "there is no

one in American literary or art history who could do it as well". "The chapters have a momentum

that carries us from chapter to chapter, from the mid-18th century to the mid 20th...her way of

conveying the stories of these artists and writers makes one want to view and read them

anew ...her insights about writers are as fine as those about artists" (San Diego Union Tribune.)

 

For the first time, Novak examines in depth the work, psyche and cultural significance of a 20th

century artist (whom she pairs with the poet Charles Olson) , in what Art News called "her

soaring explication of Jackson Pollock's drip paintings" resulting in "some of the most moving

criticism ever written about this primordial painter."

 

Voyages of the Self' concludes Professor Novak's life-long examination of American culture, an

extraordinary achievement by a pioneering scholar which illuminates some of our deepest and

sometimes darkest ideas .