Descripciones mejoradas de Syndetics:

The middle decades of the nineteenth century, sometimes known as the American Renaissance, yielded some of the most enduring literary works and influential philosophical ideas in American history. The Transcendentalist movement was central to defining this period, and nineteenth-century thinkers responded to it in different ways. While Emerson and Thoreau fostered it, Hawthorne and Poe criticized it; while Melville, though never part of New England Transcendentalism, was ambivalent. The movement was not entirely original, and American Transcendentalists borrowed much from the European and Oriental traditions.

This volume is a comprehensive guide to the major and minor figures who shaped Transcendentalism in New England, particularly between 1830 and the Civil War. Included are entries for some two hundred writers, philosophers, and theologians who fostered the movement or responded to it in significant ways. While most of the entries are for American thinkers, international figures who advanced Transcendentalism in New England and who were alive until at least 1830 are also covered. Entries relate the person to Transcendentalism, and each includes bibliographical references. A short bibliographical essay identifies the most important general biographical sources on American Transcendentalists.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Preface
• Guide to Abbreviations and References Journals and Periodicals Dictionary
• Bibliographical
• Essay
• Index

Reseñas proporcionadas por Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Covering American transcendentalism between 1830 and the Civil War, mainly in New England, this source makes several contributions to existing reference literature on this movement. First, it aims to cover the movement more broadly than has been done before. The 204 biographical entries include minor and international figures of transcendentalism, and those involved with the movement but not themselves transcendentalists. Other biographical sources on the movement, such as The American Renaissance in New England, ed. by Joel Myerson (CH, Jul'79), and Myerson's The New England Transcendentalists and the Dial (CH, Apr'81) cover less than half as many figures. Mott takes into account recent biographies and critical works about the persons his book covers, hence its biographical sketches and bibliographies are more up-to-date than the earlier sources. The sketches are well written and focus on details about each subject's transcendentalism. The cross-references to other entries and to definitions of terms are like those in another publication edited by Mott, Encyclopedia of Transcendentalism (1996). The index and brief bibliographic essay are both helpful. An alphabetical list of all persons covered would be a useful addition. The source lacks some features of Myerson: portraits and autographs of each person, and information on how each was viewed in periods after their deaths. The contributors are mostly academics in English; Mott is professor of English at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, secretary and founder of the Ralph Waldo Emerson Society, and managing editor of Emerson Society Papers. Highly recommended for academic libraries. N. G. Stewart Library of Congress

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

WESLEY T. MOTT is Professor of English at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Author of The Strains of Eloquence: Emerson and His Sermons (1989) and editor of volume 4 of The Complete Sermons of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1992), he has published articles in American Literature , Concord Saunterer , Emerson Centenary Essays , Heaven is Under our Feet: A book for Walden Woods , New England Quarterly , Phylon and , Studies in the American Renaissance . In 1989 he organized the Ralph Waldo Emerson Society and presently serves as its secretary and as managing editor of Emerson Society Papers . He is on the Board of Directors of the Thoreau Society, the editorial board of the Concord Saunterer , the trustees collections committee of Fruitlands, and the advisory board of the Walden Woods Project. He is also the editor of the Encyclopedia of Transcendentalism (Greenwood, 1996).