Emerson's essays / edited and with an introduction by Harold Bloom.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Bloom, Harold.

Series:

Bloom's modern critical interpretations

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882--Criticism and interpretation.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882.

Criticism and interpretation.

Physical Description:

vii, 300 pages ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : Chelsea House Publishers, [2006]

Summary:

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) was the most influential American writer of the nineteenth century. Poets such as Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, and Wallace Stevens descend from Emerson, as do thinkers such as John Dewey and William James. This volume of critical interpretations focuses on Emerson's Essays: First Series (1841) and Essays: Second Series (1844), which encompass some of his most important works-"History," "Self-Reliance," "Circles," "The Poet," and "Experience" among others. These essays exemplify Emerson's distinctively rich prose and his radical affirmation of the strength of the individual. The analyses and appreciations collected here place Emerson's essays in the context of literary and intellectual history, grapple with the implications of his epigrams and tropes, and link his shifts of perspective and tone to the changes in Emerson's life. Together they illuminate the complexity and scope of the seminal works of America's most influential writer and thinker.

Contents:

Introduction: The American Sublime / Harold Bloom 1

Circles / Stephen Whicher 27

Reading Emerson for the Structures: The Coherence of the Essays / Lawrence I. Buell 37

Spelling Time: The Reader in Emerson's "Circles" / David M. Wyatt 55

"Experience" / Barbara Packer 67

Emerson: The American Religion / Harold Bloom 95

Representing Grief: Emerson's "Experience" / Sharon Cameron 125

From Wordsworth to Emerson / David Bromwich 155

"Here or Nowhere": Essays: Second Series / David M. Robinson 171

Friendship and Love / George Kateb 191

From Philosophy to Rhetoric / Pamela Schirmeister 227

Justice to Emerson / Kerry Larson 253

Afterthought: Reflections in the Evening Land / Harold Bloom 271.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 287-290) and index.

ISBN:

0791081184

OCLC:

62872473

Publisher Number:

9780791081181 90000