Letter and the Spirit of Nineteenth-Century American Literature: Justice, Politics, TheologyMoving back to the trial of Anne Hutchinson in Puritan Massachusetts and the captivity narrative of Mary Rowlandson in order to analyse theo-political signification, Loebel provides a new context for examining the politically performative function of language in such texts as "The Scarlet Letter," "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and "Waiting for the Verdict." He also argues, however, that a specific theo-logic manifests itself in the political rhetoric of the nation, such that the afterlife of the "New Jerusalem" resonates not just in the "Blessings of Liberty" enshrined in the Constitution but also in the shift from a religious understanding of union with Jesus to that of the Union of States as a nation. Loebel compares unionist and confederate discourse, opening up new ways of theorising representation as a political, theological, legal, and literary issue that has continued currency both in twentieth-century literature and in the political discourse of America's global vision, such as the "axis of evil" and the "new world order." Anyone interested in American literature and culture will view the relationship between ethics and justice differently after reading this book. |
From inside the book
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Page 11
... Puritan Mas- sachusetts Bay , where the stakes of reading the Word impacted upon the individual through the community and vice versa . Theological is- sues were always simultaneously political issues , and the theo - political issues in ...
... Puritan Mas- sachusetts Bay , where the stakes of reading the Word impacted upon the individual through the community and vice versa . Theological is- sues were always simultaneously political issues , and the theo - political issues in ...
Page 12
... Puritan or that American politics secretly harbours the desire to fulfill America's destiny as a City upon the Hill . Thomas Scanlan is therefore entirely correct to assert that " conventional - American exceptionalist - accounts are ...
... Puritan or that American politics secretly harbours the desire to fulfill America's destiny as a City upon the Hill . Thomas Scanlan is therefore entirely correct to assert that " conventional - American exceptionalist - accounts are ...
Page 13
... Puritan context the nomos was foundationally a question of language , of the Law of the Father - which meant " God ” and “ God's Law , " as well as what Lacanian psy- choanalytic critics may term language itself . God's Law as a law of ...
... Puritan context the nomos was foundationally a question of language , of the Law of the Father - which meant " God ” and “ God's Law , " as well as what Lacanian psy- choanalytic critics may term language itself . God's Law as a law of ...
Page 14
... Puritanism , there are significant moments where the hegemonic nomos of America resorted to the judging of its opponents negatively as anti - nomian , fear- ing the power of their ideas and responding with powerful unilateral action ...
... Puritanism , there are significant moments where the hegemonic nomos of America resorted to the judging of its opponents negatively as anti - nomian , fear- ing the power of their ideas and responding with powerful unilateral action ...
Page 15
... Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony strove toward redemption and the image of perfection here on earth , the Constitution strove for the " more Perfect " possibility of states united according to right principles of justice . Each ...
... Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony strove toward redemption and the image of perfection here on earth , the Constitution strove for the " more Perfect " possibility of states united according to right principles of justice . Each ...
Contents
3 | |
26 | |
How to Avoid Speaking the Name of the Father | 62 |
UnionistRepublican and ConfederateDemocratic Narratives | 99 |
Uncle Toms Cabin and the Ethical Critique of Justice | 127 |
5 Exodus Politics and the Redemption of Difference | 172 |
Advocacy and Others Voices | 217 |
Confederate Democracy and the NonInDifferent Constitution | 245 |
Notes | 257 |
Works Cited | 273 |
Index | 289 |
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Letter and the Spirit of Nineteenth-Century American Literature: Justice ... Thomas Loebel No preview available - 2005 |
Common terms and phrases
according African American alterity Anne Hutchinson annunciation Antinomian argue articulated becomes biblical body Cable Calvin Ellis Stowe captivity Christ Christian confederate confederate-democratic congregationalism Constitution construction context conversion covenant Creoles cultural democracy difference Dimmesdale discourse divine emancipation enables equality ethical Exodus faith father feminine figure Frowenfeld function God's Grandissimes H.B. Stowe Harriet Beecher Stowe Hebrew Bible Hester human language identity individual interpretation issues Jesus Jews judgment justice Levinas Liberia liberty logic magistrates male Mary Rowlandson masculinity material meaning ment ministers narrative nation one's particular performance persons plurality political position possibility promote Puritan question racial radical reading Reconstruction redemption relation rendered represent representation revelation rhetoric Rowlandson Scarlet Letter sense sentiment signifies slavery slaves social Sojourner Truth soul speak speech spirit Stowe's structure suggests temporal theological thing tion translation Uncle Tom's Cabin understanding union unionist unionist-republican voice woman women word writing