Description
While both Poe and Whitman were heavily influenced by the mourning culture of their time, their use of it differed. Poe focused on the tendency of mourners to cling to anything that could remind them of their lost loved ones; Whitman focused not on the mourner but on the soul’s immortality, positing an inevitable reunion. Yet Whitman repeatedly testified that Poe’s Gothic and macabre literature played acentral role in spurring him to produce the transcendent Leaves of Grass.
By unveiling a heretofore marginalised literary relationship between Poe and Whitman, Bradford rewrites our understanding of these authors and suggests a more intimate relationship among sentimentalism, romanticism, and transcendentalism than has previously been recognised. Bradford’s insights into the culture and lives of Poe and Whitman will change readers’ understanding of both literary icons.
Book Information
ISBN 9780826220196
Author Adam C. Bradford
Format Hardback
Page Count 280
Imprint University of Missouri Press
Publisher University of Missouri Press
Weight(grams) 458g