Authority, autonomy, and representation in American literature, 1776-1865 / Mark R. Patterson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Patterson, Mark R., 1952- author.

Series:

Princeton Legacy Library

Princeton Legacy Library ; 928

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American literature--1783-1850--History and criticism.

American literature.

Representative government and representation in literature.

American literature--Revolutionary period, 1775-1783--History and criticism.

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

Politics and literature--United States.

Politics and literature.

Authority in literature.

Autonomy in literature.

United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783--Literature and the revolution.

United States.

United States--Intellectual life--18th century.

United States--Intellectual life--19th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (280 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [1988]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

From the Revolutionary War to the Civil War, a familiar scene appears and reappears in American literature: a speaker stands before a crowd of men and women, attempting to mitigate their natural suspicions in order to form a body of federated wills. In this important study of the relationship of literature and politics, Mark Patterson argues that this scene restates political issues in literary terms and embodies the essential problems of American democracy facing both politicians and writers: What is autonomy? How does representation work? Where does true authority lie? Beginning with the debate over ratification of the United States Constitution, Patterson follows out the complex literary consequences of these questions.A work of literary history and criticism, this study also offers valuable insights into matters of political and literary theory. In separate chapters on Benjamin Frankin, Hugh Henry Brackenridge, and Charles Brockden Brown in the post-Revolutionary period and on Fenimore Cooper, Emerson, and Melville in the antebellum period, Patterson provides a series of brilliant readings of major texts in order to describe how American writers have conflated political and literary concerns as a means to their own social authority.Originally published in 1988.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 editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover 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.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

ABBREVIATIONS OF FREQUENTLY CITED WORKS

Part One. The Post-Revolutionary Period

Chapter One. Benjamin Franklin and the Authority of Imitation

Chapter Two. Hugh Henry Brackenridge and Representation

Chapter Three. Charles Brockden Brown, Authority, and Intentionality

Part Two. The Antebellum Period

Chapter Four. Myth from the Perspective of History: James Fenimore Cooper and Paternal Authorities

Chapter Five. Ralph Waldo Emerson and the American Representative

Chapter Six. Herman Melville: The Authority of Confidence

Conclusion

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780691631455

069163145X

9780691601854

0691601852

9781400859627

140085962X

OCLC:

884013202