Transatlantic spiritualism and nineteenth-century American literature / Bridget Bennett.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bennett, Bridget.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Spiritualism in literature.

American literature--19th century--History and criticism.

American literature.

Spiritualism--United States--History--19th century.

Spiritualism.

Literature and spiritualism--United States--History--19th century.

Literature and spiritualism.

Occultism in literature.

History.

United States.

Physical Description:

x, 247 pages ; 22 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.

Summary:

Why did so many Americans visit and write about, sé ances? What are the connections between the 'emergence' of spiritualism in 1848 and earlier kinds of supernatural phenomena? This book asks about the cultural and political meanings of spiritualism in the 19th century United States. In order to re-assess both transatlantic spiritualism and the culture in which it emerged, Bennett locates spiritualism within a highly technologized transatlantic capitalist culture. She argues that, through performances in which the dead speak through and to the living, white Americans' most profound anxieties about political and cultural dispossession, especially of Indians, are articulated.

Contents:

Introduction: The Apparitional Past 1

Chapter 1 Crossing Over: The Spiritualist Atlantic 27

Chapter 2 Revolutionary Spirits: The Persistence of the Occult 55

Chapter 3 Sacred Theatres: The Spiritist Performances of Shakerism in the 1830s and 1840s 83

Chapter 4 Spirited Away: The Death of Little Eva and the Farewell Performances of Katie King 115

Chapter 5 "There Is No Death": Spiritualism and the Civil War 147

Conclusion: The Afterlife of Spiritualism 177.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [185]-240) and index.

ISBN:

140397800X

9781403978004

OCLC:

77831101

Online:

Contributor biographical information

Publisher description