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 3
... reading of the ultimate effect of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin . While that effect was certainly political , and while one could track , as Thomas does with care , how the text reads case law on the issue of slavery , I ...
... reading of the ultimate effect of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin . While that effect was certainly political , and while one could track , as Thomas does with care , how the text reads case law on the issue of slavery , I ...
Page 4
... readings and really inform its audience about the period , limited the approach and the probable results of what ... reading , political excursus , philosophical meditation , entirely non - traditional linguistic theorization - whose ...
... readings and really inform its audience about the period , limited the approach and the probable results of what ... reading , political excursus , philosophical meditation , entirely non - traditional linguistic theorization - whose ...
Page 5
... reading , I follow Paul Ricoeur in asserting that poetics " is not a literary genre , but rather the totality of these genres inasmuch as they exercise a referential function that differs from the descriptive referential function of ...
... reading , I follow Paul Ricoeur in asserting that poetics " is not a literary genre , but rather the totality of these genres inasmuch as they exercise a referential function that differs from the descriptive referential function of ...
Page 8
... reading emerge as problematic , if compelling , categories . In America the political and le- gal construction of justice is tied to the nature of federalism . Consider that the Constitution's first two goals are to " form a more ...
... reading emerge as problematic , if compelling , categories . In America the political and le- gal construction of justice is tied to the nature of federalism . Consider that the Constitution's first two goals are to " form a more ...
Page 9
... reading and thinking about the Constitution , the nature of the country it means to constitute , and the meaning of justice for its peo- ples . While American jurisprudence since the Reconstruction has ebbed and flowed between more or ...
... reading and thinking about the Constitution , the nature of the country it means to constitute , and the meaning of justice for its peo- ples . While American jurisprudence since the Reconstruction has ebbed and flowed between more or ...
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