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Anti-Transcendentalism

Anti-Transcendentalism. 19 th century (approx. 1840-1860) literary movement that focused on the dark side of humanity and the evilness and guilt of sin. Reasons / Causes. Opposed the optimism and naïve idealism of the transcendentalists Dwelt on guilt and remorse over past sins

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Anti-Transcendentalism

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  1. Anti-Transcendentalism 19th century (approx. 1840-1860) literary movement that focused on the dark side of humanity and the evilness and guilt of sin

  2. Reasons / Causes • Opposed the optimism and naïve idealism of the transcendentalists • Dwelt on guilt and remorse over past sins • Discontented with current circumstances in America (poverty/unjust and cruel treatment of factory workers, poor educational system, lack of women’s rights, slavery…) so they focused on moral dilemmas and society’s ills

  3. Literary Works • Prose (short stories and novels) • allegory

  4. Key ideas / Philosophies • Belief in the potential destructiveness of the human spirit • Belief in individual truths, but no universal truths, and the truths of existence are deceitful and disturbing • Human nature is inherently sinful (original sin) and evil is an active force in the universe • Focus on the man’s uncertainty and limitations in the universe

  5. View of Nature • Nature is vast and incomprehensible, a reflection of the struggle between good and evil • Nature is the creation and possession of God and it cannot be understood by human beings

  6. Writing Style • Man vs. Nature conflicts bring out the evil in humanity • Raw and morbid diction • Focus on the protagonist’s inner struggles • Typical protagonists are haunted outsiders who are alienated from society • Prevalent use of symbolism

  7. Nathaniel Hawthorne • “As the moral gloom of the world overpowers all systematic gaiety, even so was their home of wild mirth made desolate amid the sad forest.” • “The Maypole of Merrymount “(1836)

  8. Herman Melville • “All men live enveloped in whale-lines. All are born with halters round their necks; but it is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death, that mortals realize the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life.” --Moby Dick

  9. Melville harshly criticizes capitalism, slavery, war and imperialism, but he shows passionate empathy for “classes of men who bear the same relation to society at large that the wheels do to a coach.”

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