Politics and Skepticism in Antebellum American Literature

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, American, Nonfiction, History
Cover of the book Politics and Skepticism in Antebellum American Literature by Dominic Mastroianni, Cambridge University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Dominic Mastroianni ISBN: 9781316120613
Publisher: Cambridge University Press Publication: October 23, 2014
Imprint: Cambridge University Press Language: English
Author: Dominic Mastroianni
ISBN: 9781316120613
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication: October 23, 2014
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Language: English

In confronting their tumultuous time, antebellum American writers often invoked unrevealable secrets. Five of Ralph Waldo Emerson's most inventive interlocutors - Melville, Hawthorne, Dickinson, Douglass and Jacobs - produced their most riveting political thought in response to Emerson's idea that moods fundamentally shape one's experience of the world, changing only through secret causes that no one fully grasps. In this volume, Dominic Mastroianni frames antebellum and Civil War literature within the history of modern philosophical skepticism, ranging from Descartes and Hume to Levinas and Cavell, arguing that its political significance lies only partially in its most overt engagement with political issues like slavery, revolution, reform, and war. It is when antebellum writing is most philosophical, figurative, and seemingly unworldly that its political engagement is most profound. Mastroianni offers new readings of six major American authors and explores the teeming archive of nineteenth-century print culture.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In confronting their tumultuous time, antebellum American writers often invoked unrevealable secrets. Five of Ralph Waldo Emerson's most inventive interlocutors - Melville, Hawthorne, Dickinson, Douglass and Jacobs - produced their most riveting political thought in response to Emerson's idea that moods fundamentally shape one's experience of the world, changing only through secret causes that no one fully grasps. In this volume, Dominic Mastroianni frames antebellum and Civil War literature within the history of modern philosophical skepticism, ranging from Descartes and Hume to Levinas and Cavell, arguing that its political significance lies only partially in its most overt engagement with political issues like slavery, revolution, reform, and war. It is when antebellum writing is most philosophical, figurative, and seemingly unworldly that its political engagement is most profound. Mastroianni offers new readings of six major American authors and explores the teeming archive of nineteenth-century print culture.

More books from Cambridge University Press

Cover of the book Managerial Economics by Dominic Mastroianni
Cover of the book Complex Networks by Dominic Mastroianni
Cover of the book The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Music by Dominic Mastroianni
Cover of the book A History of the Soviet Union from the Beginning to its Legacy by Dominic Mastroianni
Cover of the book Jewish Exiles and European Thought in the Shadow of the Third Reich by Dominic Mastroianni
Cover of the book Romantic Women Writers, Revolution, and Prophecy by Dominic Mastroianni
Cover of the book Sociolinguistic Variation in Children's Language by Dominic Mastroianni
Cover of the book Structure and Bonding in Crystalline Materials by Dominic Mastroianni
Cover of the book Why Elections Fail by Dominic Mastroianni
Cover of the book English Legal History and its Sources by Dominic Mastroianni
Cover of the book Bioinformatics for Biologists by Dominic Mastroianni
Cover of the book The Cambridge History of Ireland: Volume 3, 1730–1880 by Dominic Mastroianni
Cover of the book A History of Modern Israel by Dominic Mastroianni
Cover of the book Health in Humanitarian Emergencies by Dominic Mastroianni
Cover of the book Governing Digitally Integrated Genetic Resources, Data, and Literature by Dominic Mastroianni
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy