The American Adam

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, American
Cover of the book The American Adam by R. W. B. Lewis, University of Chicago Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: R. W. B. Lewis ISBN: 9780226219509
Publisher: University of Chicago Press Publication: September 4, 2009
Imprint: University of Chicago Press Language: English
Author: R. W. B. Lewis
ISBN: 9780226219509
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Publication: September 4, 2009
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Language: English

Intellectual history is viewed in this book as a series of "great conversations"—dramatic dialogues in which a culture's spokesmen wrestle with the leading questions of their times. In nineteenth-century America the great argument centered about De Crèvecoeur's "new man," the American, an innocent Adam in a bright new world dissociating himself from the historic past. Mr. Lewis reveals this vital preoccupation as a pervasive, transforming ingredient of the American mind, illuminating history and theology as well as art, shaping the consciousness of lesser thinkers as fully as it shaped the giants of the age. He traces the Adamic theme in the writings of Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, Henry James, and others, and in an Epilogue he exposes their continuing spirit in the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, Ralph Ellison, J. D. Salinger, and Saul Bellow.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Intellectual history is viewed in this book as a series of "great conversations"—dramatic dialogues in which a culture's spokesmen wrestle with the leading questions of their times. In nineteenth-century America the great argument centered about De Crèvecoeur's "new man," the American, an innocent Adam in a bright new world dissociating himself from the historic past. Mr. Lewis reveals this vital preoccupation as a pervasive, transforming ingredient of the American mind, illuminating history and theology as well as art, shaping the consciousness of lesser thinkers as fully as it shaped the giants of the age. He traces the Adamic theme in the writings of Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, Henry James, and others, and in an Epilogue he exposes their continuing spirit in the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, Ralph Ellison, J. D. Salinger, and Saul Bellow.

More books from University of Chicago Press

Cover of the book Democracy and Dysfunction by R. W. B. Lewis
Cover of the book Neither Donkey nor Horse by R. W. B. Lewis
Cover of the book Arts of Wonder by R. W. B. Lewis
Cover of the book A World More Concrete by R. W. B. Lewis
Cover of the book The Earthquake Observers by R. W. B. Lewis
Cover of the book Locations of Buddhism by R. W. B. Lewis
Cover of the book Blind to Sameness by R. W. B. Lewis
Cover of the book Costa Rican Ecosystems by R. W. B. Lewis
Cover of the book The Life of a Leaf by R. W. B. Lewis
Cover of the book Artistic License by R. W. B. Lewis
Cover of the book The Science of Sleep by R. W. B. Lewis
Cover of the book A Story Larger than My Own by R. W. B. Lewis
Cover of the book A Buyer's Market by R. W. B. Lewis
Cover of the book Creating Political Presence by R. W. B. Lewis
Cover of the book Curiosity by R. W. B. Lewis
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy