American Hieroglyphics

The Symbol of the Egyptian Hieroglyphics in the American Renaissance

Häftad, Engelska, 2016

Av John T. Irwin, John T Irwin, John T Irwin

869 kr

Beställningsvara. Skickas inom 7-10 vardagar

Fri frakt för medlemmar vid köp för minst 249 kr.

The discovery of the Rosetta Stone and the subsequent decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics captured the imaginations of nineteenth-century American writers and provided a focal point for their speculations on the relationships between sign, symbol, language, and meaning. Through fresh readings of classic works by Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, Poe, Hawthorne, and Melville, John T. Irwin's American Hieroglyphics examines the symbolic mode associated with the pictographs. Irwin demonstrates how American Symbolist literature of the period was motivated by what he calls "hieroglyphic doubling," the use of pictographic expression as a medium of both expression and interpretation. Along the way, he touches upon a wide range of topics that fascinated people of the day, including the journey to the source of the Nile and ideas about the origin of language.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2016-11-10
Mått152 x 229 x 28 mm
Vikt544 g
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor384
FörlagJohns Hopkins University Press
ISBN9781421421155

Tillhör följande kategorier

John T. Irwin is the Decker Professor in the Humanities emeritus at Johns Hopkins University. His books include F. Scott Fitzgerald's Fiction: "An Almost Theatrical Innocence"; Hart Crane's Poetry: "Appollinaire lived in Paris, I live in Cleveland, Ohio"; The Mystery to a Solution: Poe, Borges, and the Analytic Detective Story; and Unless the Threat of Death Is Behind Them: Hard-Boiled Fiction and Film Noir.

PrefacePart I: Emerson, Thoreau, and WhitmanChapter 1. Champollion and the Historical Background; Emerson's Hieroglyphical EmblemsChapter 2. Thoreau: The Single, Basic Form — Patenting a LeafChapter 3. Whitman: Hieroglyphic Bibles and Phallic SongsPart II: PoeChapter 4. The Hieroglyphics and the Quest for Origins: The Myth of Hieroglyphic DoublingChapter 5. Ends and Origins: The Voyage to the Polar Abyss and the Journey to the Source of the Nile; The Survival of the ManuscriptChapter 6. Certainty and Credibility — Self-Evidence and Self-Reference; Nietzsche and Tragedy — Whitman and Opera; The Open RoadChapter 7. Writing Self / Written Self; The Dark Double; The Overwhelming of the Vessel Chapter 8. Cannibalism and Sacrifice; Metaphors of the Body — Transfiguration, Transubstantiation, Resurrection, and AscensionChapter 9. Narcissus and the Illusion of DepthChapter 10. Self-Recognition; Deciphering a Mnemic Inscription; Historical Amnesia and Personal AnamnesisChapter 11. Repetition; Symbolic Death and Rebirth; The Infinite and Indefinite; The Mechanism of ForeshadowingChapter 12. The Unfinished Narrative; The Cavern Inscription on Tsalal; Survival in an ImageChapter 13. The White Shadow; Imaging the Indefinite; Reading the Spirit from the Letter; The Finality of Revenge; The Alogical Status of the SelfChapter 14. The Return to Oneness; Breaking the Crypt; The Limits of Interpretation; The Ultimate CertaintyPart III: Hawthorne and MelvilleChapter 15. 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 ObjectChapter 16. 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 ObjectsEpilogueNotesIndex