The American Aeneas : classical origins of the American self by Shields, John C., 1944- instant download

The American Aeneas : classical origins of the American self by Shields, John C., 1944- instant download

xlv, 432 pages ; 24 cm, \"In The American Aeneas, John C. Shields exposes a significant cultural blindness within American consciousness. Noting that the biblical myth of Adam has long dominated ideas of what it means to be American, Shields argues that an equally important component of our nation's cultural identity - a secular one deriving from the classical tradition - has been seriously neglected.\"--Jacket, Includes bibliographical references (pages 393-422) and index, Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: the quest for the American Aeneas -- Translatio cultus -- Edward Taylor's classicism -- Cotton Mather's epic in prose -- Surge for cultural independence: the flourishing of American classicism -- George Washington and the Vergilian moment -- The American epic writ large: the example of Phillis Wheatley -- The radical shift in discourse -- The persistence of the American Aeneas in Hawthorne -- The persistence of the American Aeneas in Melville -- Conclusion: America's classical origins besieged -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index