In conceptualizing Moby-Dick; or, the whale, Herman Melville was both drawn and opposed to the ideas of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Through an analysis of the main characters in MobyDick and Emerson’s writing, it becomes evident that Transcendentalism is embodied in the characterization of the novel’s main characters. I argue that the eventual fates of characters in the novel reveal Melville’s criticism of Emerson’s ideas. Moreover, the depiction of ocean and land as a symbol of the soul in Moby-Dick mirrors Emerson’s idealized relationship between man and nature. However, the ambiguous and horrific nature Melville produces shows that the romantic ideal of Emerson’s is lacking. / I skrivandet av Moby Dick eller valen så kom Herman Melville att både inspireras av och motsätta sig Ralph Waldo Emersons idéer. Genom en analys av huvudkaraktärerna i Moby Dick samt Emersons texter så är det tydligt att transcendentalism finns förkroppsligad i karaktäriseringen av romanens huvudkaraktärer. Jag argumenterar för att karaktärernas slutgiltiga öden i romanen uttrycker Melvilles kritik av Emersons idéer. Vidare så är skildringen av hav och land som en symbol för själen i Moby Dick en spegling av Emersons idealiserade förhållande mellan människa och natur. Emellertid den tvetydiga och fruktansvärda natur Melville skapar visar på bristfälligheten i Emersons romantiska ideal.

Texte remanié de: Dissertation--Berlin--Freie Universität. / Bibliogr. p.210-226.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Delaware, 1982. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (p. 371-379).

Thesis (M.A.)--Emerson College, 1996. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 37-39).

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 1990. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 155-162).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Brown University, 2005. / Vita. Thesis advisor: Summer B. Twiss. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 184-203). Also available online.

Doct. diss.--Göteborg--Göteborgs universitet, 1997. / Résumé. Bibliogr. p. 203-211. Index.

This is a textually complete and comprehensively annotated edition of the poet Arthur Hugh Clough’s letters to five of the leading American poets and scholars of his day: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Charles Eliot Norton, James Russell Lowell, Francis James Child and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, over the period 1847–1861. Fifteen of these letters have not previously been published, and those that appear in published editions are largely incomplete and unannotated. The letters in this edition have been transcribed from the original manuscripts held at the Bodleian and Houghton Libraries. They provide a great deal of valuable information about the less well-known later period of Clough’s life and have been extensively annotated to modern scholarly standards using information from primary literary and historical sources. The introduction to the thesis contextualises Clough’s visit to America and the initiation of the correspondence with his American friends, highlighting the central importance of the ‘American dimension’ to Clough’s life and work. I also discuss aspects of nineteenth-century letter-writing that have only relatively recently become the subject of critical attention, such as the impact of material factors – postage rates, steamship schedules, etc – on Clough’s transatlantic correspondence. Clough’s creation of an ‘epistolary self’ in his private letters, together with his distinctive habit of writing ‘journal-letters’ and the idea of letters as historical ‘testimony’ are the subject of detailed analysis, and I draw a number of parallels with his use of the epistolary form in his major poetry. Chapter 2 of the thesis evaluates existing ‘theories’ of annotation, reviews current practice in relation to the annotation of nineteenth-century correspondence and concludes with a reflection on my own experience of editing Clough’s letters. The absence of a definitive version of Clough’s American letters and the comprehensive introduction will make this edition an original contribution to scholarly work on nineteenth-century correspondence and poetry.

Investigating individual subjectivity, Ralph Waldo Emerson traveled to Europe following the death of his first wife, Ellen Tucker Emerson, and his resignation from the Unitarian ministry. His experience before and during the voyage contributed to the evolution of a self-intuitive philosophy, termed selbstgefühl by the German Romantics and altered his careful style of composition and delivery to promote the integrity of individual subjectivity as the highest authority in the deduction of truth. He would use this philosophy throughout the remainder of his life to encourage his audience to experience the same process he did.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / One of the most controversial theological subjects today is the doctrine of man. In this area, too, lies some of the sharp criticism of Protestant liberal thought. Hence there should be value in analysing some recognized liberal thinker's doctrine of man. Harry Emerson Fosdick was an especially well-known liberal preacher of the first half of the twentieth century. He received both great praise and severe negative criticism. While much has been written concerning his preaching methods, there has been little effort to analyse any of his theological doctrines. This dissertation has sought to make clear and to evaluate Fosdick's doctrine of man. An effort has also been made to discover what implications this doctrine has for Fosdick's type of liberalism. The method followed has been a careful reading of all Fosdick's work pertinent to any phase of the doctrine of man, supplemented by correspondence and personal interview with Fosdick himself. Fosdick is not a systematic theologian. He has not fully expounded any theological doctrine in any one place. Therefore, it was necessary to select different emphases from different works and to try to bring them together into a coherent whole. The resulting doctrine of man was then analysed for its liberal elements. These elements were compared with those found in concepts of liberalism expressed in the writings of Reinhold Niebuhr and Walter Marshall Horton. These two theologians hold widely differing views of what constitutes liberalism. The comparison between their concepts of liberalism and that revealed in Fosdick's doctrine of man served to clarify Fosdick's type of liberalism. The study established the fact that Fosdick's doctrine of man is fundamentally Christian, true to the emphases of the Bible and general Christian thought. Fosdick does not reveal the tendency, often found today, to over-emphasize one aspect of man's nature to the exclusion of others. He balances the idea of man's goodness with clear recognition of his sin; reason is important but revelation is primary; man is both free and limited; man is a spiritual being but the physical body is a necessary vehicle for its expression; eternal life, which is both present and future, is open to man. What man should be, as a total person, is seen in Christ, the revelation of both God and man. In insisting on the sacredness of personality Fosdick is true to the spirit of Jesus. Fosdick is clearly a liberal. He is not guilty, however, of the excesses of liberalism which gave rise to severe criticism. His liberalism has always been moderate and he has remained close to central Biblical affirmations. A critic himself of much early liberalism, he expressed neo-liberal ideas before the term "neo-liberal" came into existence. No adequate grasp of Fosdick's theology can be gained unless one reads all his work. Much of his theolo gical thought is expressed in writing other than his published sermons upon which many are prone to base their criticism. A thorough study of all his work shows that he deserves more recognition than he has received in theological circles. Appreciated as he has been for his important contribution to early liberal thought, he has not been recognized for his solid contribution to what is now often called neo-liberalism. In the advance guard of both the critics of early liberalism and the adherents of a new, more realistic, and soberly considered liberal viewpoint, he deserves consideration in modern thought.