Biographical Dictionary of Transcendentalism

(Hardback)

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The middle decades of the nineteenth century, sometimes known as the American Renaissance, yielded some of the most enduring literary works and influential philosophical ideas in American history. The Transcendentalist movement was central to defining this period, and nineteenth-century thinkers responded to it in different ways. While Emerson and Thoreau fostered it, Hawthorne and Poe criticized it; while Melville, though never part of New England Transcendentalism, was ambivalent. The movement was not entirely original, and American Transcendentalists borrowed much from the European and Oriental traditions. This volume is a comprehensive guide to the major and minor figures who shaped Transcendentalism in New England, particularly between 1830 and the Civil War. Included are entries for some two hundred writers, philosophers, and theologians who fostered the movement or responded to it in significant ways. While most of the entries are for American thinkers, international figures who advanced Transcendentalism in New England and who were alive until at least 1830 are also covered. Entries relate the person to Transcendentalism, and each includes bibliographical references. A short bibliographical essay identifies the most important general biographical sources on American Transcendentalists.

Reviews

.,."the Encyclopedia of Transcendentalism and the Dictionary of Transcendentalism are the most comprehensive resources of their kind in the broadly construed field of American Transcendentalism. These books should be welcomed ...a fact-filled overview of a complex period, suitable for all concerned with that period from students seeking a comprehensive introduction to fully fledged scholars hoping to recall what they have forgotten and possibly discover what they never knew....Indispensable for libraries, they are little less than that for anyone with a serious interest in American Transcendentalism whose knowledge falls short of encyclopedic. My own copies are already well thumbed."-Emerson Society Papers
...the Encyclopedia of Transcendentalism and the Dictionary of Transcendentalism are the most comprehensive resources of their kind in the broadly construed field of American Transcendentalism. These books should be welcomed ...a fact-filled overview of a complex period, suitable for all concerned with that period from students seeking a comprehensive introduction to fully fledged scholars hoping to recall what they have forgotten and possibly discover what they never knew....Indispensable for libraries, they are little less than that for anyone with a serious interest in American Transcendentalism whose knowledge falls short of encyclopedic. My own copies are already well thumbed.-Emerson Society Papers
Covering American transcendentalism between 1830 and the Civil War, manily in New England, this source makes several contributions to existing reference literature on this movement. First, it aims to cover the movement more broadly than has been done before.... Mott takes into account recent biographies and critical works about the persons his book covers, hence its biographical sketches and bibliographies are more up-to-date than the earlier sources. The sketches are well written and focus on details about each subject's transcendentalism.... Highly recommended for academic libraries.-Choice
The Biographical Dictionary of Transcendentalism describes the fascinating persons who embraced those unorthodox philosophies.-The Quest
"Covering American transcendentalism between 1830 and the Civil War, manily in New England, this source makes several contributions to existing reference literature on this movement. First, it aims to cover the movement more broadly than has been done before.... Mott takes into account recent biographies and critical works about the persons his book covers, hence its biographical sketches and bibliographies are more up-to-date than the earlier sources. The sketches are well written and focus on details about each subject's transcendentalism.... Highly recommended for academic libraries."-Choice
"The Biographical Dictionary of Transcendentalism describes the fascinating persons who embraced those unorthodox philosophies."-The Quest
..."the Encyclopedia of Transcendentalism and the Dictionary of Transcendentalism are the most comprehensive resources of their kind in the broadly construed field of American Transcendentalism. These books should be welcomed ...a fact-filled overview of a complex period, suitable for all concerned with that period from students seeking a comprehensive introduction to fully fledged scholars hoping to recall what they have forgotten and possibly discover what they never knew....Indispensable for libraries, they are little less than that for anyone with a serious interest in American Transcendentalism whose knowledge falls short of encyclopedic. My own copies are already well thumbed."-Emerson Society Papers

Author Bio

WESLEY T. MOTT is Professor of English at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Author of The Strains of Eloquence: Emerson and His Sermons (1989) and editor of volume 4 of The Complete Sermons of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1992), he has published articles in American Literature, Concord Saunterer, Emerson Centenary Essays, Heaven is Under our Feet: A book for Walden Woods, New England Quarterly, Phylon and ,Studies in the American Renaissance. In 1989 he organized the Ralph Waldo Emerson Society and presently serves as its secretary and as managing editor of Emerson Society Papers. He is on the Board of Directors of the Thoreau Society, the editorial board of the Concord Saunterer, the trustees collections committee of Fruitlands, and the advisory board of the Walden Woods Project. He is also the editor of the Encyclopedia of Transcendentalism (Greenwood, 1996).