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In a work that will be of interest to students and scholars of
American Literature, Romanticism, Transcendentalism, the History of
Ideas,and Religious Studies, Brad Bannon examines Samuel Taylor
Coleridge's engagement with the philosophical theology of Jonathan
Edwards. A closer look at Coleridge's response to Edwards clarifies
the important influence that both thinkers had on seminal works of
the nineteenth century, ranging from the antebellum period to the
aftermath of the American Civil War-from Poe's fiction and
Emerson's essays to Melville's Billy Budd and Crane's The Red Badge
of Courage. Similarly, Coleridge's early espousal of an
abolitionist theology that had evolved from Edwards and been shaped
by John Woolman and Olaudah Equiano sheds light on the way that
American Romantics later worked to affirm a philosophy of
supernatural self-determination. Ultimately, what Coleridge offered
the American Romantics was a supernatural modification of Edwards'
theological determinism, a compromise that provided Emerson and
other nineteenth-century thinkers with an acceptable extension of
an essentially Calvinist theology. Indeed, a thoroughgoing
skepticism with respect to salvation, as well as a faith in the
absolute inscrutability of Providence, led both the
Transcendentalists and the Dark Romantics to speculate freely on
the possibility of supernatural self-determination while doubting
that anything other than God, or nature, could harness the power of
causation.
In a work that will be of interest to students and scholars of
American Literature, Romanticism, Transcendentalism, the History of
Ideas,and Religious Studies, Brad Bannon examines Samuel Taylor
Coleridge's engagement with the philosophical theology of Jonathan
Edwards. A closer look at Coleridge's response to Edwards clarifies
the important influence that both thinkers had on seminal works of
the nineteenth century, ranging from the antebellum period to the
aftermath of the American Civil War-from Poe's fiction and
Emerson's essays to Melville's Billy Budd and Crane's The Red Badge
of Courage. Similarly, Coleridge's early espousal of an
abolitionist theology that had evolved from Edwards and been shaped
by John Woolman and Olaudah Equiano sheds light on the way that
American Romantics later worked to affirm a philosophy of
supernatural self-determination. Ultimately, what Coleridge offered
the American Romantics was a supernatural modification of Edwards'
theological determinism, a compromise that provided Emerson and
other nineteenth-century thinkers with an acceptable extension of
an essentially Calvinist theology. Indeed, a thoroughgoing
skepticism with respect to salvation, as well as a faith in the
absolute inscrutability of Providence, led both the
Transcendentalists and the Dark Romantics to speculate freely on
the possibility of supernatural self-determination while doubting
that anything other than God, or nature, could harness the power of
causation.
Since the release of his first novel, The Orchard Keeper, in 1965,
Cormac McCarthy's characters, intricate plots, and sometimes
forbidding settings have captivated the attention of countless
readers while exploring deep philosophical problems, including that
of human agency and free will. This multiauthor volume places the
full range of his novels in historical, literary, and cultural
contexts and shifts the focus of critical engagement to questions
of determinism, fatalism, and free will. Essayists over the course
of eleven chapters show how McCarthy's protagonists and antagonists
often confront grotesque realities and destinies, and find
themselves prey to incessant subconscious and uncontrollable
forces. In the process, these scholars reveal that McCarthy's works
arrive thoroughly tinctured with religious complexities,
ambiguities of ancient and modern thinking, and profoundly
splintered notions of morality, freedom, and ethics. Consequently,
McCarthy's philosophical depth, mastery of language, and sometimes
shocking psychological analysis are brought into sharp focus for
longtime readers. With new scholarship from eminent critics, an
accessible style, and precise attention to the lesser-known works,
Cormac McCarthy's Violent Destinies re-introduces the Pulitzer
Prize-winning novelist's work under the twin themes of fatalism and
determinism.
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