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State University of New York Press - Len Gougeon

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280 pages

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This critical biography traces the spiritual, psychological, and intellectual growth of one of America's foremost oracles and prophets, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882). Beginning with his undergraduate career at Harvard and spanning the range of his adult life, the book examines the complex, often painful emotional journey inward that would eventually transform Emerson from an average Unitarian minister into one of the century's most formidable intellectual figures. By connecting Emerson's inner life with his outer life, Len Gougeon illustrates a virtually seamless relationship between Emerson's Transcendental philosophy and his later career as a social reformer, a rebel who sought to "unsettle all things" in an effort to redeem his society.

In tracing the path of Emerson's evolution, Gougeon makes use of insights by Joseph Campbell, Erich Neumann, Mircea Eliade, and N. O. Brown. Like Emerson, all of these thinkers directly experienced the fragmentation and dehumanization of the Western world, and all were influenced both directly and indirectly by Emerson and his philosophy. Ultimately, this study demonstrates how Emerson's philosophy would become a major force of liberal reformation in American society, a force whose impact is still felt today.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Prologue

1. Psychomythic Humanism: Re-centering Reality

2. The Spirit and the Flesh

3. “God’s Child”: Emerson in His Journals

4. “The Devil’s Child”: Emerson’s Early Public Voice

5. The Call To Serve: Re-centering America

Epilogue
Notes
Works Cited
Index

Sujets

USA

United States of America

19th century

History of the Americas

États-Unis

Informations

Publié par	State University of New York Press
Date de parution	01 février 2012
Nombre de lectures	1
EAN13	9780791480182
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,1648€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Emerson &Eros

The Making of a Cultural Hero

Len Gougeon

Emerson & Eros

The Making of a Cultural Hero

Len Gougeon

State University of New York Press

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press, 194 Washington Avenue, Suite 305, Albany, NY 12210-2384

Production by Kelli Williams Marketing by Susan M. Petrie

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Gougeon, Len. Emerson and Eros : the making of a cultural hero / Len Gougeon. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-7914-7077-0 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803–1882—Philosophy. 2. Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803–1882—Knowledge and learning. 3. Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803–1882—Influence. 4. Literature and myth. 5. Authors, American—19th century—Biography. 6. Transcendentalists (New England)—Biography. 7. Social reformers—United States—Biography. 8. United States—Intellectual life—19th century. I. Title.

PS1642.P5G64 2007 814'.3—dc22

2006023729

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Deborah, who has always been my first circle.

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgments Prologue Chapter 1 Psychomythic Humanism:

Chapter 2 The Spirit and the Flesh

Chapter 3 “God’s Child”:

Re-centering Reality

Emerson in His Journals

Chapter 4 “The Devil’s Child”:

Chapter 5 The Call To Serve: Epilogue Notes Works Cited Index

Emerson’s Early Public Voice

Re-centering America

vii

ix 1

125

159 193 199 241 255

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In the course of writing a book, one inevitably incurs many debts to those who provided help and encouragement along the way. After more than thirty years of writing about Emerson, I have accumulated an unusual number of these. Since it involved so many different aspects of Emerson’s life and thought, this particular project was a special challenge. My jour-ney into the depths of Emerson’s inner self forced me to consider every-thing from his psychological development, to his spiritual crises, to his complex and, at times, conflicted relationships with church, family, friends, and community. It also necessitated a consideration of the sources of Emerson’s remarkable creativity and the unique expression of that cre-ativity in his lectures, poems, and essays. The philosophical sources of Emerson’s thought and his place in a historical and intellectual continuum reaching back to the Neoplatonists of the third century and forward to the psychomythic humanists of the twentieth century presented yet another challenge. And so my debts are many. To name all of the persons who have contributed to my knowledge and appreciation of Emerson over the years would require more space than is available here. It would begin in graduate school with A. W. Plumstead and David Porter and continue on from there. And so I will not attempt it. Instead I will limit myself, first of all, to those individuals who were kind enough to read and comment on the manuscript of this study at various stages during the long period of its evolution. Among the earliest of these were Robert Habich, Wesley Mott, David Robinson, Alan Hodder, and Richard Geldard. Their many sugges-tions, as well as their encouragement, were invaluable. Later readers in-cluded Robert Richardson and Joel Myerson, both of whom possess a vast knowledge of Emerson and the period in which he lived and worked. Others outside of the Emerson circle were also extremely generous in pro-viding much needed guidance. John Norcross, whose knowledge of mod-ern psychology is second to none, was a tremendous help in preventing me from running off the tracks at various junctures. My philosopher friends and colleagues, John McGinley and Kevin Nordberg, performed a similar

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Emerson and Eros , livre ebook

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