{"product_id":"secular-revelations-9780674019126","title":"Secular Revelations","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe U.S. Constitution is a quintessentially political document. Yet, until now, no one has seriously considered the formative influence of this document on American cultural life. In this ambitious book, Mitchell Meltzer demonstrates the extent to which the Constitution is both source and inspiration for America's greatest literary masterworks.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMitchell Meltzer’s book offers an interesting insight into a seldom studied aspect of American cultural history. In its pages, the author analyzes the impact of the American Constitution on three of the main American Renaissance writers, Emerson, Whitman and Melville… \u003ci\u003eSecular Revelations\u003c\/i\u003e enables us to look into the Constitution of the United States, not merely as a legal text, but as a cultural frame; Meltzer gives the reader numerous examples, and his study of the three writers he chooses is accurate and inspiring. -- Alice Beja * Cercles *\u003cbr\u003eMore than ever, it is good to be reminded that the American Constitution is a secular revelation, since what Emerson called the Party of Memory (now our Christian Right) asserts the opposite. Mitchell Meltzer helps to restore the truth, and shows how Emerson, Whitman and Melville based aspects of their own secular revelations on our Founding Document, the continued inspiration for Emerson’s now dispirited Party of Hope. -- Harold Bloom, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Western Canon\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith unparalleled insight, Meltzer explains the power of the U.S. Constitution to exert literary influence at the highest level. This groundbreaking work demonstrates that our founding source of authority, the Constitution, fuses religion and secularity into a single inspiring paradox, whose metaphysical power fuels the writing of three great Americans, Emerson, Whitman, and Melville. For the first time in literary history, Meltzer rightly accords the Constitution its paradoxical creative role. -- Angus Fletcher, author of \u003ci\u003eA New Theory for American Poetry\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis fascinating study of some of the ‘greats’ of American literature throws new light on the ways that the United States Constitution is not only a legal document, but also, and in some ways even more importantly, a central shaper of American culture. It also shows how a secular Constitution can serve as a substitute for more traditional revealed religion. -- Sanford Levinson, author of \u003ci\u003eConstitutional Faith\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eSecular Revelations\u003c\/i\u003e explores the place of the Constitution in the development of an American literary tradition. Beautifully written and powerfully argued, it combines a rich historical synthesis of the debates and cultural meanings of the Constitution, from the Framers through the antebellum era, with a strikingly original argument and literary readings. It should be of interest to all Americanists in the fields of literature and American Studies, as well as to historians of the early Republic and antebellum eras and of the Constitution. -- John Stauffer, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Black Hearts of Men\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments   Introduction: The Constitution and American Literature    Part One: The Constitution as a Secular Revelation   1. At the Beginning   2. The Path to Union   3. The People, Having Spoken, Speak   4. Almost a Miracle   5. The Paradox of Secular Revelation    Part Two: An American Literary Renaissance   6. Declarations of American Literary Independence   7. Preserving the Revelation   8. Preserving the Paradox   9. The Literary Renaissance of Secular Revelation   10. Essays in Time   11. A Poetic Form for Straying   12. Clinging to Narrative   13. Confidence and the Darkness of Revelation    Conclusion: The Literary Art of Uniting States   Notes   Index","brand":"Harvard University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49403525792087,"sku":"9780674019126","price":999.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/secular-revelations-9780674019126","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}