Perfecting Friendship: Politics and Affiliation in Early American LiteratureUniv of North Carolina Press, 06 սեպ, 2007 թ. - 288 էջ Contemporary notions of friendship regularly place it in the private sphere, associated with feminized forms of sympathy and affection. As Ivy Schweitzer explains, however, this perception leads to a misunderstanding of American history. In an exploration of early American literature and culture, Schweitzer uncovers friendships built on a classical model that is both public and political in nature. Schweitzer begins with Aristotle's ideal of "perfect" friendship that positions freely chosen relationships among equals as the highest realization of ethical, social, and political bonds. Evidence in works by John Winthrop, Hannah Foster, James Fenimore Cooper, and Catharine Sedgwick confirms that this classical model shaped early American concepts of friendship and, thus, democracy. Schweitzer argues that recognizing the centrality of friendship as a cultural institution is critical to understanding the rationales for consolidating power among white males in the young nation. She also demonstrates how women, nonelite groups, and minorities have appropriated and redefined the discourse of perfect friendship, making equality its result rather than its requirement. By recovering the public nature of friendship, Schweitzer establishes discourse about affection and affiliation as a central component of American identity and democratic community. |
From inside the book
Արդյունքներ 66–ի 1-ից 5-ը:
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... cultural or historical discourse. Going back to the foundational texts about friendship in the Western tradition allowed me to see friendship as part of a very long philosophical discourse and as the preeminent a≈liative and democratic ...
... cultural or historical discourse. Going back to the foundational texts about friendship in the Western tradition allowed me to see friendship as part of a very long philosophical discourse and as the preeminent a≈liative and democratic ...
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... cultural practice. In this story, which I argue is deeply ''American''—perhaps our quintessential story—the second self is not an exact mirror image of the self but an undeniable possibility of personhood created through relation and a ...
... cultural practice. In this story, which I argue is deeply ''American''—perhaps our quintessential story—the second self is not an exact mirror image of the self but an undeniable possibility of personhood created through relation and a ...
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... cultural and political meanings of same-sex a≈liation in various historical moments and, as we see with Addie Brown, among surprisingly diverse populations. But if such representations provide a window into the existence of same-sex a ...
... cultural and political meanings of same-sex a≈liation in various historical moments and, as we see with Addie Brown, among surprisingly diverse populations. But if such representations provide a window into the existence of same-sex a ...
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... cultural trend, initiated in the early modern period, of applying the terminology of classical friendship to heterosexual marriage in order to redefine and recenter marriage as a form of spiritual companionship. In The Doctrine and ...
... cultural trend, initiated in the early modern period, of applying the terminology of classical friendship to heterosexual marriage in order to redefine and recenter marriage as a form of spiritual companionship. In The Doctrine and ...
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... cultural and political importance of sentiment in early American literature, throwing female friendship, interracial relations, and an emerging interdisciplinary history of emotions into high relief.∞∞ In her 1999 study, Cato's Tears ...
... cultural and political importance of sentiment in early American literature, throwing female friendship, interracial relations, and an emerging interdisciplinary history of emotions into high relief.∞∞ In her 1999 study, Cato's Tears ...
Բովանդակություն
1 | |
Smoke and Mirrors A History of Equality and Interchangeability in Friendship Theory | 27 |
Familiar Commerce John Winthrops Modell of American Affiliation | 73 |
Hannah Webster Fosters Coquette Resurrecting Friendship from the Tomb of Marriage | 103 |
Eat Your Heart Out James Fenimore Coopers Male Romance and the American Myth of Interracial Friendship | 133 |
The Ethical Horizon of American Friendship in Catharine Sedgwicks Hope Leslie | 165 |
The Persistence of Second Selves | 207 |
Notes | 211 |
Works Cited | 239 |
259 | |
Այլ խմբագրություններ - View all
Perfecting Friendship: Politics and Affiliation in Early American Literature Ivy Schweitzer Դիտել հնարավոր չէ - 2006 |
Common terms and phrases
a√ection a≈liation According American amity appears argues Aristotle Aristotle’s association authority become body bond brothers calls century chapter character charity Christian cites classical connection considered contrast Cooper’s critics cultural death describes desire di√erence discourses discussion early echoes Eliza emerging emotion England English equality ethical Everell example expressed Faith feelings female figure final finds friendship gender gives hand Hawk-eye heart homosocial Hope human ideal ideas identity imagine implies important Indian interracial John language later letter Magawisca male marriage masculine means moral mutual narrative native natural notion novel o√ers passion perfect political practice produces Puritan reading relations relationship represents republican requires rhetoric romance rule Sedgwick sentimental shared ship similar sister social specifically sphere spiritual suggests sympathy theory thought tion understanding universal virtue vision Winthrop women writers