Exceptional Violence and the Crisis of Classic American Literature

Joseph Fichtelberg is Professor of English at Hofstra University, USA. He is the author of three books: The Complex Image: Faith and Method in American Autobiography (1989), Critical Fictions: Sentiment and the American Market, 1780-1870 (2003), and Risk Culture: Performance and Danger in Early America (2010).

• 1 Introduction.- 2 States of Exception.- 3 Empty Places.- 4 Poe's Chess Game.- 5 The Sublime Object of Freedom.- 6 Claiming Benito Cereno.- 7 Emily Dickinson's Picturesque War.