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
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Page 10
... political thought and social structure ) was not present before a text " brought it into being " ( 82 ) . The problem of unity certainly had been addressed before , even just within the period in which America's founding political docu ...
... political thought and social structure ) was not present before a text " brought it into being " ( 82 ) . The problem of unity certainly had been addressed before , even just within the period in which America's founding political docu ...
Page 69
... political equality , which is implicitly for whites ; because blacks are not considered political subjects , servitude is not a problem , for it upholds the social hierarchy many Americans ( slavery advocates , apologists , and ...
... political equality , which is implicitly for whites ; because blacks are not considered political subjects , servitude is not a problem , for it upholds the social hierarchy many Americans ( slavery advocates , apologists , and ...
Page 92
... political sphere , Whitman models relations on criteria that have been excluded from or simply omitted from the official American political ( that is , constitutional ) paradigm : the scriptural , the disenfranchised . Because the ...
... political sphere , Whitman models relations on criteria that have been excluded from or simply omitted from the official American political ( that is , constitutional ) paradigm : the scriptural , the disenfranchised . Because the ...
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 | |
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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