Emerson's liberalism / Neal Dolan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dolan, Neal.

Series:

Studies in American thought and culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882--Political and social views.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo.

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882.

Liberalism in literature.

Criticism and interpretation.

Political and social views.

Physical Description:

xi, 341 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Madison, Wis. : University of Wisconsin Press, [2009]

Summary:

Emerson's Liberalism explains why Ralph Waldo Emerson has been and remains the central literary voice of American culture: he gave ever-fresh and lasting expression to its most fundamental and widely shared liberal values. Liberalism, after all, is more than a political philosophy: it is a form of civilization, a set of values, a culture, a way of representing and living in the world. This book makes explicit what has long been implicit in America's embrace of Emerson.

Neal Dolan offers the first comprehensive and historically informed exposition of all of Ralph Waldo Emerson's writings as a contribution to the theory and practice of liberal culture. Rather than projecting twentieth-century viewpoints onto the past, he restores Emerson's great body of work to the classical liberal contexts that most decisively shaped its general political-cultural outlook-the libertarian-liberalism of John Locke, the Scottish Enlightenment, the American founders, and the American Whigs.

In addition to in-depth consideration of Emerson's journals and lectures, Dolan provides original commentary on many of Emerson's most celebrated published works, including Nature, the "Divinity School Address," "History," "Compensation," "Experience," the political addresses of the early 1840s, "An Address...on ...The Emancipation of the Negroes in the British West Indies," Representative Men, English Traits, and The Conduct of Life. He argues that Emerson's ideas are a morally bracing and spiritually inspiring resource for the ongoing sustenance of American culture and civilization, reminding us of the depth, breadth, and strength of our common liberal inheritance.

Contents:

Introduction: The Political Reception of Emerson 3

1 Progress: Journals (1820-1824); "Self-Reliance" (1841) 28

2 Reason I, Science: Journals (1826-1832) 53

3 Reason II, Virtue: Nature (1836) 77

4 Property, Culture: The Philosophy of History (1836-1837); Human Culture (1837-1838); Human Life (1838-1839); The Present Age (1839-1840); "The Divinity School Address" (1838); "History" (1841); "Compensation" (1841) 108

5 Reason III, Skepticism: "Experience" (1844) 138

6 Limited Government: "Man the Reformer" (1841); "Lecture on the Times" (1841); "The Conservative" (1841); "The Transcendentalist" (1842); "The Young American" (1844); "Politics" (1844); "New England Reformers" (1844) 169

7 Natural Rights, Civil Society: "An Address... on...the Emancipation of the Negroes in the British West Indies" (1844) 194

8 Empiricism: Representative Men (1850) 222

9 Liberty, Commerce: Biography (1835); English Literature (1835-1836); English Traits (1856) 255.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 303-330) and index.

ISBN:

9780299228040

0299228045

9780299228033

0299228037

9780299228002

0299228002

OCLC:

253837266