Empire for Liberty: Melville and the Poetics of Individualism

Empire for Liberty: Melville and the Poetics of Individualism
ISBN-10
0691234566
ISBN-13
9780691234564
Series
Empire for Liberty
Category
Literary Criticism
Pages
264
Language
English
Published
2021-08-10
Publisher
Princeton University Press
Author
Wai Chee Dimock

Description

Wai Chee Dimock approaches Herman Melville not as a timeless genius, but as a historical figure caught in the politics of an imperial nation and an "imperial self." She challenges our customary view by demonstrating a link between the individualism that enabled Melville to write as a sovereign author and the nationalism that allowed America to grow into what Jefferson hoped would be an "empire for liberty."

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