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. |
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Page 48
... ideal ) state . By this image Poe means not so much to incite alteration of the actual better to match the potential as he does to point to the ideal's being ( and having been ) there all along behind the real . His point is that our ...
... ideal ) state . By this image Poe means not so much to incite alteration of the actual better to match the potential as he does to point to the ideal's being ( and having been ) there all along behind the real . His point is that our ...
Page 70
... ideal , and the ideal is here equated with the polit- ical ; as a practice , it is resisted . The point of Eureka is stronger than that : as a material reality , it is impossible . Poe's plans for the journal he long hoped to found ...
... ideal , and the ideal is here equated with the polit- ical ; as a practice , it is resisted . The point of Eureka is stronger than that : as a material reality , it is impossible . Poe's plans for the journal he long hoped to found ...
Page 271
... ideal , which , against the tradition of English and German idealism , he conceives of as in fact not transcendent ... ideal has no efficient causal- ity , and never bursts into the world of phenomena at particular points " ( VRE 465 ) ...
... ideal , which , against the tradition of English and German idealism , he conceives of as in fact not transcendent ... ideal has no efficient causal- ity , and never bursts into the world of phenomena at particular points " ( VRE 465 ) ...
Contents
Edgar Allan Poe and the Poetics of Constitution | 37 |
A Religion Which Is No Religion | 71 |
But Arent It All a Sham? | 111 |
Copyright | |
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E Pluribus Unum: Nineteenth-Century American Literature and the ... W. C. Harris Limited preview - 2005 |
Common terms and phrases
actually Address American argue attempt authority basis becomes Bible Billy Budd body calls chapter character claim concern considered Constitution continued critical culture death difference discourse distinct documents edition equality Eureka exist experience fact fails federal finally founding ground hierarchy human idea ideal identity imperative individual inevitable institution integration intent interest James James's kind least Leaves less Lincoln literary logical matter means mediation Melville Melville's mind nature never notion object original particular persons philosophical pluralism pluribus unum Poe's poem poetic poetry political position possible practical present principle problem problematic produce question reference regard relation religion religious representation represents requires revision seems sense simply slavery social formation solution structure suggests theorization things thought tion translation truth Union unity universe variety Vere Whitman whole writing