E Pluribus Unum: Nineteenth-Century American Literature and the Constitutional Paradox“Out of many, one.” But how do the many become one without sacrificing difference or autonomy? This problem was critical to both identity formation and state formation in late 18th- and 19th-century America. The premise of this book is that American writers of the time came to view the resolution of this central philosophical problem as no longer the exclusive province of legislative or judicial documents but capable of being addressed by literary texts as well. The project of E Pluribus Unum is twofold. Its first and underlying concern is the general philosophic problem of the one and the many as it came to be understood at the time. W. C. Harris supplies a detailed account of the genealogy of the concept, exploring both its applications and its paradoxes as a basis for state and identity formation. Harris then considers the perilous integration of the one and the many as a motive in the major literary accomplishments of 19th-century U.S. writers. Drawing upon critical as well as historical resources and upon contexts as diverse as cosmology, epistemology, poetics, politics, and Bible translation, he discusses attempts by Poe, Whitman, Melville, and William James to resolve the problems of social construction caused by the paradox of e pluribus unum by writing literary and philosophical texts that supplement the nation’s political founding documents. Poe (Eureka), Whitman (Leaves of Grass), Melville (Billy Budd), and William James (The Varieties of Religious Experience) provide their own distinct, sometimes contradictory resolutions to the conflicting demands of diversity and unity, equality and hierarchy. Each of these texts understands literary and philosophical writing as having the potential to transform-conceptually or actually-the construction of social order. This work will be of great interest to literary and constitutional scholars. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 49
Page 7
... interest , and that makes all the difference , since it is the affiliation with and appropriation of one or another mode of discourse that sets limits and conditions on their authority and efficacy . The continuing interest in the ...
... interest , and that makes all the difference , since it is the affiliation with and appropriation of one or another mode of discourse that sets limits and conditions on their authority and efficacy . The continuing interest in the ...
Page 125
... interest in the whale from contemporary phrenologists ' interest in the human skull , and thus aligns Melville's novel with texts like Eureka and Leaves of Grass ( 1860 ) , is a continuing interest in the reconstruction of social order ...
... interest in the whale from contemporary phrenologists ' interest in the human skull , and thus aligns Melville's novel with texts like Eureka and Leaves of Grass ( 1860 ) , is a continuing interest in the reconstruction of social order ...
Page 284
... interest for the good of the state ) and also to liberalism ( the pursuit and guarding of pri- vate interest at the cost of public participation in the state ) . Seeking to repress the revolutionary aspect of the Declaration of ...
... interest for the good of the state ) and also to liberalism ( the pursuit and guarding of pri- vate interest at the cost of public participation in the state ) . Seeking to repress the revolutionary aspect of the Declaration of ...
Contents
Edgar Allan Poe and the Poetics of Constitution | 37 |
A Religion Which Is No Religion | 71 |
But Arent It All a Sham? | 114 |
Copyright | |
1 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
E Pluribus Unum: Nineteenth-Century American Literature and the ... W. C. Harris Limited preview - 2005 |
Common terms and phrases
American literary American social formation argue Articles of Confederation attempt authority Bible Billy Budd Billy's Book of Mormon Budd's Cetology chapter character civil religion Claggart claim concern Congregationalism constitutional regime cosmology critical culture death Declaration democracy difference discourse disparates e pluribus unum Emerson epistemological equality Eureka fact federal Federalist Federalist Papers founding documents genre hierarchy ical ideal identity imperative to unity individual inequality inevitable institution integration Ishmael James's Jamesian kind Leaves of Grass Lincoln logical means mediation Melville Melville's Moby Moby Dick Moby-Dick monism nineteenth-century one-and-the-many problem persons Philippine philosophical phrenology Plotinus pluralism pluribus unum Poe's poem poet poetic poetry political Queequeg reconstruction relation religion religious representation revision sacrifice secular seems slavery social order solution structure suggests textual theological theorization tion totality translation truth unification unified Union unity-in-variety variety Vere Vere's Whitman whole William James words writing