A Historical Guide to Ralph Waldo Emerson / Edition 1

by Joel Myerson

Overview

There is no question that Emerson has maintained his place as one of the seminal figures in American history and literature. In his time, he was the acknowledged leader of the Transcendentalist movement and his poetic legacy, education ideals, and religious concepts are integral to the formation of American intellectual life. In this volume, Joel Myerson, one of the leading experts on this period, has gathered together sparkling new essays that discuss Emerson as a product of his times. Individual chapters provide an extended biographical study of Emerson and his effect on American life, followed by studies of his concept of individualism, nature and natural science, religion, antislavery, and women's rights.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195120943
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	01/13/2000
Series:	Historical Guides to American Authors
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 5.40(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Joel Myerson is Carolina Distinguished Professor of American Literature at the University of Southern Carolina. He edited Studies in the American Renaissance (1977-1996) and is former president of the Association for Documentary Editing, the Thoreau Society, and the Ralph Waldo Emerson Society. He was published numerous books on Emerson and his times.

Table of Contents

IntroductionChronologiesIllustrationsAbbreviationsWe Fine What We Seek: Thoughts Toward a Biography of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ronald A. BoscoThe Age of the First Person Singular: Emerson and Individualism, Wesley T. MottEmerson, Nature, and Natural Science, William RossiEmerson and Religion, David M. RobinsonEmerson and Antislavery, Gary CollisonEmerson in the Context of the Woman's Rights Movement, Armida GilbertContributorsIndex

Editorial Reviews

"Chief among the accomplishments of A Historical Guide to Ralph Waldo Emerson is the book's effective relocation of Emerson within the major literary, historical, and cultural contexts of nineteenth-century American life. Edited by Joel Myerson—long the dean of American Transcendentalist literary studies—the book is notable for its clear organization, accessible structure, and useful apparatus.... The book promotes a rich, nuanced view of this important American writer...[and] offers a salutary challenge to the stereotypical image of Emerson as an aloof literary philosopher who existed apart from the circumstances of his age."—Nineteenth-Century Prose

From the Publisher