Focusing on the evolution of literature and literary institutions in New England, this study spans from the American Revolutionary era to the late nineteenth century. It explores how historical events and cultural shifts influenced literary expression and the establishment of a distinct literary identity in the region. Through an examination of key authors and works, the book highlights the significant contributions of New England to the broader American literary landscape.
Transcendentalism was the first major intellectual movement in U.S. history, championing the inherent divinity of each individual, as well as the value of collective social action. In the mid-nineteenth century, the movement took off, changing how Americans thought about religion, literature, the natural world, class distinctions, the role of women, and the existence of slavery. Edited by the eminent scholar Lawrence Buell, this comprehensive anthology contains the essential writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, and their fellow visionaries. There are also reflections on the movement by Charles Dickens, Henry James, Walt Whitman, Louisa May Alcott, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. This remarkable volume introduces the radical innovations of a brilliant group of thinkers whose impact on religious thought, social reform, philosophy, and literature continues to reverberate in the twenty-first century.
Emphasizing the influence of the physical environment on individual and collective perception, this book provides the theoretical underpinnings for an ecocriticism now reaching full power, and does so in remarkably clear ways. Focusing on 19th- and 20th-century writers, it reimagines city and country as a single complex landscape. schovat popis
The collection of essays delves into the environmentalist aspects of Thoreau, examining his deep connection to specific places and objects. It addresses critical questions about his immersion in nature and its influence on American nature writing. Contributors analyze the challenges of representing the relationship between perceiver and place, considering various discourses suitable for this task. They also investigate how cultural factors such as science, politics, race, and gender shape perceptions of nature, as well as the ethical implications of a writer's engagement with the environment.
A critical summary of the emerging discipline of ecocriticism. Written by one of the world's leading theorists in ecocriticism. Traces the history of the ecocritical movement from its roots in the 1970s through to its diversification and proliferation today.
The first book in many years to take in the full sweep of national fiction, The Dream of the Great American Novel explains why this supposedly antiquated idea continues to thrive. It shows that four G.A.N. scripts are keys to the dynamics of American literature and identity--and to the myth of a nation perpetually under construction.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) was a leading figure in the American Transcendentalist movement, with worldwide influence as essayist, social thinker, naturalist-environmentalist, and sage. Thoreau's Walden, an autobiographical narrative of his two-year sojourn in a self-built lakeside cabin, is one of the most widely studied works of American literature. His essay "Civil Disobedience" is a classic of American political activism and a model for nonviolent reform movements around the world. Esteemed Thoreau scholar Lawrence Buell gives due consideration to all significant aspects of Thoreau's art and thought while framing key issues and complexities in historical and literary context.