Title Aesthetic individualism and practical intellect : American allegory in Emerson, Thoreau, Adams, and James / Olaf Hansen

Published Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [1990] ©1990

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Description 1 online resource (262 pages) Series Princeton legacy library Contents Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- INTRODUCTION -- CHAPTER 1. Allegory and the Work of Tradition -- CHAPTER 2. Merlin's Laughter -- CHAPTER 3. Ralph Waldo Emerson -- CHAPTER 4. Henry David Thoreau -- CHAPTER 5. Henry Adams -- CHAPTER 6. William James -- CHAPTER 7. American Allegory -- SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX Summary Addressing vital issues in the current revision of American literary studies, Olaf Hansen carries out an exposition of American writing as a philosophical tradition. His broad and comparative view of American culture reveals the importance of the American allegory as a genuine artistic and intellectual style and as a distinct mode of thought particularly suited to express the philosophical legacy of transcendentalism. Hansen traces intellectual and cultural continuities and disruptions from Emerson through Thoreau and Henry Adams to William James, paying special attention to the modernism of transcendental thought and to its quality as a valid philosophy in its own right. Concerned with defining ideas of self, selfhood, and subjectivity and with moral tradition as an act of creating order out of the cosmos, the American allegory provided a basic and frequently overlooked link between transcendentalism and pragmatism. Its "suggestive incompleteness" combined in a highly dialectic manner the essence of both enlightenment and romanticism. Characterized neither by absolute objectivity nor by absolute subjectivity, it allowed speculation about the meaning of reality and about humankind's place in a realm of appearances. Originally published in 1990. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905 Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 237-246) and index Notes In English Print version record Subject Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882 -- Technique Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862 -- Technique Adams, Henry, 1838-1918 -- Technique James, William, 1842-1910. SUBJECT Adams, Henry, 1838-1918 fast Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882 fast James, William, 1842-1910 fast Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862 fast Subject American literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism Allegory. Individualism in literature. allegories (literary works) LITERARY CRITICISM -- American -- General. Allegory American literature Individualism in literature Technique Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc. Form Electronic book ISBN 9781400860746 1400860741

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