John Seelye examines rivers–“beautiful machines”–in the early American republic as revealing patterns, tensions, and paradoxes that underscore Americans’ desire for exploration and expansion on literary and philosophical (as well as geographical) levels between the time of the French and Indian Wars and the Civil War (1755-1860).
In the second segment [22:15], Robert Gingher reviews two books that were published in 1983: John Updike’s collection of critical essays Hugging the Shore; and Mordecai Richler’s anthology The Best of Modern Humor.
At the time of this conversation, Seelye, a Fellow at the National Humanities Center (1983-84), was professor of English at the University of Florida.
Gingher was a book reviewer for the Greensboro (N.C.) News and Record.
This edition of Soundings was conducted by Wayne J. Pond.
