Sean McCaan, director of the Center for Faculty Career Development, professor of English, held a book signing Dec. 4 at Broad Street Books in Middletown. McCann is the author of the book, A Pinnacle of Feeling: American Literature and Presidential Government.
A Pinnacle of Feeling is a work of literary criticism that "illuminates the fundamental concern with democratic sovereignty that informs the most innovative literary works of the twentieth century, and shows how these works helped redefine and elevate the role of executive power in American culture."
McCann challenges prevailing critical interpretations through revelatory new readings of major writers, including Richard Wright, Gertrude Stein, Henry Roth, Zora Neale Hurston, Saul Bellow, Ralph Ellison, Norman Mailer, Don Delillo and Philip Roth. He argues that these writers not only represented or satirized presidents, but echoed political thinkers who cast the chief executive as the agent of the sovereign will of the American people.
Dexter McCann, 8, made an appearance at his father's book signing.
McCann's book is available at Broad Street Books. (Photos by Intisar Abioto '09)
Olivia Drake
Andrew Chatfield
Mike Mavredakis