Poe, Fuller, and the Mesmeric Arts: Transition States in the American RenaissanceUniversity of Missouri Press, 2006 - 202 pages In Poe, Fuller, and the Mesmeric Arts, Bruce Mills examines how the writings of Edgar Allan Poe and Margaret Fuller draw from representations of and theories concerning animal magnetism, somnambulism, or hypnosis rendered in newspapers, literary and medical journals, pamphlets, and books. Although some recent studies have begun to consider the relevance of animal magnetism or mesmerism to nineteenth-century literature and culture, this book moves more deeply into what might be termed the canon of mesmeric study. Through the works of Poe and Fuller, Mills argues, we can more fully understand the era's response to dynamic cultural forces. Rather than simply using "American" subject matter as demanded in early calls for a national literature, Poe and Fuller, as well as Lydia Maria Child and Walt Whitman, increasingly rooted their epistemology and literary forms in psychological findings that accommodated the fluidity of democratic realities and principles. For many influential writers of the period, then, the call for a national literature had evolved into attention to the state of one's own mind, to those manifestations of the highest states of mind, and to the effects of literary choices on readers' psychological states. In the history and philosophy of mesmeric consciousness, Poe, Fuller, and others discerned those principles that offered the promise of answering a central question: how does one create an aesthetic that effectively explores, accommodates, and fosters the harmonious interplay of transition states in a democratic culture? Given its content and approach, Poe, Fuller, and the Mesmeric Arts should evoke interest among Poe and Fuller scholars as well as teachers, students, and historians intent upon understanding the emerging democratic sensibilities of the American Renaissance. |
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Poe, Fuller, and the Mesmeric Arts: Transition States in the American ... Bruce Mills Limited preview - 2005 |
Common terms and phrases
Amariah Brigham American animal mag animal magnetism antebellum artistic asserts body Brigham Broadway Journal clairvoyant Coleridge conceptions consciousness creation critical divine dynamic Edgar Allan Poe effects electric embodies Emerson era's Essays Eureka Facts in Mesmerism faculty feminine fiction fluid genius harmony human ideas imagination immaterial individual influence insights intuitive Journal laws Leaves of Grass Letters from New-York literary literature Lydia Maria Lydia Maria Child magnetic forces manifest Margaret Fuller Marginalia material mental Mesmeric Revelation mesmerist mind motion narrative nature nervous netism Nineteenth Century offers perception phenomena Philosophy phrenology physical Poe and Fuller Poe's poem poet poetic practice Prevorst principles psychological Ralph Waldo Emerson readers receptivity reflections relationship reveals seems Seeress sensation sense sleep Somnambulism Somnambulist soul speculation spiritual suggest sympathy theory things thought tion Townshend transition truths Twice-Told Tales underscores understanding universe vital Whitman Woman writers
References to this book
Art and Beauty in the Heartland: The Story of the Eagle's Nest Camp at ... Jan Stilson Limited preview - 2006 |