Biographical Dictionary of Transcendentalism

by Wesley Mott

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313288364
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	07/17/1996
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

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).

Table of Contents

Preface
Guide to Abbreviations and References
Jourbanals and Periodicals
Dictionary
Bibliographical Essay
Index

Editorial Reviews

Contains 204 alphabetical entries on major figures associated with transcendentalism in the US, focusing on those who shaped the movement of theological innovation and literary experiment in New England from the 1830s to the Civil War. Includes material on writers, theologians, philosophers, politicians, scientists, artists, and critics associated with the movement. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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