Download or read book Thin Culture, High Art written by Anne Lounsbery and published by Harvard University Department of Comparative Literature. This book was released on 2007 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the early 19th century a perceived absence of literature in Russia and America gave rise to grandiose notions of literature's importance. This book examines how two traditions worked to refigure cultural lack by insisting on it. Through a comparative study of Gogol and Hawthorne, Lounsbery examines striking parallels.