John Crowe Ransom

Previously unpublished, Land! unites John Crowe Ransom's poetic sensibilities with his argument for an agrarian economy as an alternative to capitalism.In Land!, the accomplished poet and scholar John Crowe Ransom, leading member of the Southern Agrarian movement, examines economics at the height of the Great Depression. Long thought to have been burned by its author after he failed to find a publisher, Land! is politically charged with Ransom's aesthetic beliefs about literature and his agrarian interpretation of economics.After the publication of the Southern Agrarian movement's manifesto I'll Take My Stand in 1930, Ransom, who provided the book's Statement of Principles in addition to its lead essay, became convinced that the book had not adequately proposed an economic alternative to Northern industrialism, which had nearly obliterated the Southern way of life. Land! was Ransom's attempt to fill this gap. In it he presents the weaknesses inherent in capitalism and argues convincingly that socialism is not only an inadequate alternative but inimical to American sensibilities. He proposes instead that agrarianism, which could flourish alongside capitalism, would relieve the problems of unemployment in America due to its wealth of land. This insightful, long-lost piece of American literature and history speaks to today's socioeconomic times.

The Complete Poems contains every poem that John Crowe Ransom wrote, including his three books- Poems About God, Chills and Fever, and Two Gentlemen in Bonds- as well as the additional poems that appeared in the three editions of his Selected Poems. The volume also collects poems that were published only in newspapers and magazines, as well as a handful of poems that Ransom left in manuscript at the time of his death. This variorum edition establishes the definitive text of each poem, collating Ransom's elaborate revisions, which he carried out throughout his lifetime. Detailed annotations identify sources, parse obscure allusions, and highlight the archaic language central to Ransom's poetic technique. Edited by Ashby Bland Crowder, this volume constitutes an authoritative scholarly edition of Ransom's poetry, providing an essential resource for the study of twentieth-century American literature.

The accomplished poet and scholar John Crowe Ransom made profound contributions to twentieth-century American literature. As a teacher at Vanderbilt University he was also a leading member of the Southern Agrarian movement and a contributor to the movement's manifesto I'll Take My Stand. Ransom's Land! is a previously unpublished work that unites Ransom's poetic sensibilities with an examination of economics at the height of the Great Depression. Politically charged with Ransom's aesthetic beliefs about literature and his agrarian interpretation of economics, Land! was long thought to have been burned by its author after he failed to find a publisher. Thankfully, the manuscript was discovered, and we are now able to read this unique and interesting contribution to the Southern Agrarian revival. After the publication of I'll Take My Stand in 1930, Ransom, who provided the book's Statement of Principles in addition to its lead essay, became convinced that the book had not adequately proposed an economic alternative to Northern industrialism, which had fairly obliterated the Southern way of life. Land! was Ransom's attempt to fill this gap. In it he presents the weaknesses inherent in capitalism and argues convincingly that socialism is not only an inadequate alternative but inimical to American sensibilities. He proposes instead that agrarianism, which could flourish alongside capitalism, would relieve the problems of unemployment and the "permanently unemployed." In particular, he argues that what he calls the "amphibian farmer"—who can survive in both a monetary and a non-monetary economy— would never, so long as he relied on himself for necessities, have to fear unemployment. America, Ransom claims, is unique in offering this opportunity because, unlike in European countries, land is plentiful.

Poetry. Edited by Ben Mazer. The first-ever complete edition of the poems of John Crowe Ransom, restoring to the world in the name not of mercy but of justice a great many poems that he himself had once (and quite rightly) judged perfectly worthy of publication, poems that, joining now his select poems, will enjoy a renaissance."