Exceptional violence and the crisis of classic American literature / Joseph Fichtelberg.

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Exceptional violence and the crisis of classic American literature / Joseph Fichtelberg.

9783031078453 (electronic bk.)
3031078454 (electronic bk.)
3031078446
9783031078446

Cham : Palgrave Macmillan, an imprint of Springer Nature Switzerland AG, [2022]

©2022

English

1 online resource : illustrations.

10.1007/978-3-031-07845-3 doi

PN56.V53 F53 2022

809.933552
810.9/355
809/.933552

This book is an interdisciplinary study of antebellum American literature and the problem of political emergency. Arguing that the United States endured sustained conflicts over the nature and operation of sovereignty in the unsettled era from the Founding to the Civil War, the book presents two forms of governance: local and regional control, and national governance. The periods states of exception arose from these clashing imperatives, creating contests over land, finance, and, above all, slavery, that drove national politics. Extensively employing the political and cultural insights of Walter Benjamin, this book surveys antebellum American writers to understand how they situated themselves and their work in relation to these episodes, specifically focusing on the experience of violence. Exploring the work of Edgar Allan Poe, ex-slave narrators like Moses Roper and Henry Bibb, Herman Melville and Emily Dickinson, the book applies some central aspects of Walter Benjamins literary and cultural criticism to the deep investment in pain in antebellum politics and culture. Joseph Fichtelberg is Professor of English at Hofstra University, USA. He is the author of three books: The Complex Image: Faith and Method in American Autobiography (1989), Critical Fictions: Sentiment and the American Market, 1780-1870 (2003), and Risk Culture: Performance and Danger in Early America (2010).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

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Description based on print version record.

American literature readings in the 21st century.

Print version: 9783031078446
Exceptional violence and the crisis of classic American literature

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