This gathering of eleven original essays with a substantive introduction brings the traditional image of Emerson the Transcendentalist face-to-face with an emerging image of Emerson the reformer.
The Emerson Dilemma highlights the conflict between Emerson’s philosophical attraction to solitary contemplation and the demands of activism compelled by the logic of his own writings.
The essays cover Emerson’s reform thought and activism from his early career as a Unitarian minister through his reaction to the Civil War. In addition to Emerson’s antislavery position, the collection covers his complex relationship to the early women’s rights movement and American Indian removal. Individual essays also compare Emerson’s reform ethics with those of his wife, Lidian Jackson Emerson, his aunt Mary Moody, Henry David Thoreau, John Brown, and Margaret Fuller.
The Emerson who emerges from this volume is one whose Transcendentalism is explicitly politicized; thus, we see him consciously mediating between the opposing forces of the world he ?thought” and the world in which he lived.
Arvustused
A collection of authoritative essays treating a subject that is timely and will spur discussion and lively debate on the nature and extent of Emersons reformist impulses. -- Ronald A. Bosco * University at Albany, State University of New York * The traditional image of Emerson is that of a remote intellectualan individual drawn to the quiet retreat of his study where he is free to meditate and compose undisturbed by the intrusions of the practical world. This edited collection of eleven original essays challenges that notion. Each essay focuses on the relation between Emerson's writings, sermons, and speeches and the social and political activism they engendered. What emerges is the image of Emerson putting his ideas into action. -- Choice
Abbreviations vii Acknowledgments ix Introduction: The Emerson Dilemma xi T. Gregory Garvey Photo Essay xxix Part One. Emersons Other Inner Life Reform and the Interior Landscape: Mapping Emersons Political Sermons 3(11) Susan L. Roberson Emersons Political Spirit and the Problem of Language 14(21) T. Gregory Garvey Emerson, Thoreaus Arrest, and the Trials of American Manhood 35(32) Linck C. Johnson Part Two. Emerson and Womens Rights Pain and Protest in the Emerson Family 67(26) Phyllis Cole ``Pierced by the Thorns of Reform: Emerson on Womanhood 93(22) Armida Gilbert The Limits of Political Sympathy: Emerson, Margaret Fuller, and Womans Rights 115(24) Jeffrey A. Steele Part Three. Transitions in Antislavery Emerson, Slavery, and the Evolution of the Principle of Self-Reliance 139(31) Michael Strysick Emersons Abolition Conversion 170(27) Len Gougeon Emerson, John Brown, and ``Doing the Word: The Enactment of Political Religion at Harpers Ferry, 1859 197(24) Harold K. Bush Part Four. Emersons Thought and the Public Sphere Emersons ``American Civilization: Emancipation and the National Destiny 221(13) David M. Robinson Power, Poise, and Place: Toward an Emersonian Theory of Democratic Citizenship 234(21) Stephen L. Esquith Contributors 255(2) Index 257
T. GREGORY GARVEY is an associate professor of English at the State University of New York at Brockport.
