American hieroglyphics : the symbol of the Egyptian hieroglyphics in the American Renaissance

Author(s)

• Irwin, John T.

Bibliographic Information

American hieroglyphics : the symbol of the Egyptian hieroglyphics in the American Renaissance

John T. Irwin

Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983

• pbk.

Note

Originally published in 1980 by Yale University Press

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

"This is major scholarship, both as it contributes to American history of ideas and as it offers a brilliant new interpretation of major nineteenth-century American writers."--J. Hillis Miller

Table of Contents

• Preface Part I: Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman Chapter 1. Champollion and the Historical Background
• Emerson's Hieroglyphical Emblems Chapter 2. Thoreau: The Single, Basic Form - Patenting a Leaf Chapter 3. Whitman: Hieroglyphic Bibles and Phallic Songs Part II: Poe Chapter 4. The Hieroglyphics and the Quest for Origins: The Myth of Hieroglyphic Doubling Chapter 5. Ends and Origins: The Voyage to the Polar Abyss and the Journey to the Source of the Nile
• The Survival of the Manuscript Chapter 6. Certainty and Credibility - Self-Evidence and Self-Reference
• Nietzsche and Tragedy - Whitman and Opera
• The Open Road Chapter 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 Ascension Chapter 9. Narcissus and the Illusion of Depth Chapter 10. Self-Recognition
• Deciphering a Mnemic Inscription
• Historical Amnesia and Personal Anamnesis Chapter 11. Repetition
• Symbolic Death and Rebirth
• The Infinite and Indefinite
• The Mechanism of Foreshadowing Chapter 12. The Unfinished Narrative
• The Cavern Inscription on Tsalal
• Survival in an Image Chapter 13. The White Shadow
• Imaging the Indefinite
• Reading the Spirit from the Letter
• The Finality of Revenge
• The Alogical Status of the Self Chapter 14. The Return to Oneness
• Breaking the Crypt
• The Limits of Interpretation
• The Ultimate Certainty Part III: Hawthorne and Melville Chapter 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 Object Chapter 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 Objects Epilogue Notes Index

by "Nielsen BookData"

Details

• NCID: BA04032975
• ISBN:
  • 0801829089
• LCCN: 83006153
• Country Code: us
• Title Language Code: eng
• Place of Publication: Baltimore
• Pages/Volumes: xii, 371 p.
• Size: 24 cm
• Classification:
  • LCC : PS217.H54
  • DC19 : 810/.9/15
• Subject Headings:
  • LCSH : American literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism
  • LCSH : Hieroglyphics in literature
  • LCSH : Egypt in literature
  • LCSH : American literature -- Egyptian influences
  • LCSH : Symbolism in literature