| Description |
xii, 371 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
pt. 1. Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman: Champollion and the historical background: Emerson's hieroglyphical emblems -- Thoreau: the single, basic form -patenting a leaf -- Whitman: hieroglyphic bibles and phallic songs -- pt. 2. Poe: Hieroglyphics and the quest for origins: the myth of hieroglyphic doubling -- Ends and origins: the voyage to the polar abyss and the journey to the source of the Nile; the survival of the manuscript -- Certainty and credibility -self-evidence and self-reference: Nietzsche and tragedy -Whitman and opera; the open road -- Writing self/written self: the dark double; the overwhelming of the vessel -- Cannibalism and sacrifice: metaphors of the body -transfiguration, transubstantiation, resurrection, and ascension -- Narcissus and the illusion of depth -- Self-recognition: deciphering a mnemic inscription; historical amnesia and personal anamnesis -- Repetition: symbolic death and rebirth; the infinite and the indefinite; the mechanism of foreshadowing -- Unfinished narrative: the cavern inscription on Tsalal; survival in an image -- White shadow: imaging the indefinite; reading the spirit from the letter; the finality of revenge, the alogical status of the self -- Return to oneness: breaking the crypt; the limits of interpretation; the ultimate certainty -- pt. 3. Hawthorne and Melville: Hawthorne: the ambiguity of the hieroglyphics; the unstable self and its roles; mirror image and phonetic veil; the feminine role of the artist; veil and phallus; the book as partial object -- Melville: the indeterminate ground; a conjunction of fountain and vortex; the myth of Isis and Osiris; master oppositions; the doubleness of the self and the illusion of consistent character; Dionysus and Apollo; mask and phallus; the chain of partial objects. |
| Subject |
American literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism.
|
|
American literature. |
| Chronological Term |
19th century |
| Subject |
United States -- Intellectual life -- 1783-1865.
|
|
United States. |
|
Intellectual life. |
| Chronological Term |
1783-1865 |
| Subject |
American literature -- Egyptian influences.
|
|
American literature -- Egyptian influences. |
|
Hieroglyphics in literature.
|
|
Hieroglyphics in literature. |
|
Symbolism in literature.
|
|
Symbolism in literature. |
|
Egypt -- In literature.
|
|
Egypt. |
|
Littérature américaine -- 19e siècle -- Histoire et critique. |
|
Hiéroglyphes dans la littérature. |
|
Égypte dans la littérature. |
|
Littérature américaine -- Influence égyptienne. |
|
Symbolisme dans la littérature. |
| ISBN |
0300024711 |
|
9780300024715 |
|
