Beyond understanding
Subtitle: appeals to the imagination, passions, and will in mid-nineteenth-century American women's fiction
By: Martha L. Henning.
Series: American university studies.; vol. 65
Publisher: Peter Lang; Lang AG International Academic Publishers, Peter
Published: 1996
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 205
Subjects: Campbell, George, 1719-1796.; American fiction -- Women authors -- History and criticism.; Literature and society -- United States -- History -- 19th century.; Women and literature -- United States -- History -- 19th century.; American fiction -- 19th century -- History and criticism.; Narration (Rhetoric) -- History -- 19th century.; Individuality in literature.; Psychology and literature.; Imagination in literature.; Emotions in literature.; Self in literature.; Will in literature.
Description: To appreciate how and why America's first best-sellers so gripped the American soul, current readers need to recapture the era's cognitive paradigm. In Beyond Understanding, Dr. Henning introduces us to the nineteenth-century mind, influenced, in large part, by eighteenth-century Scottish philosopher, theologian, and rhetorician, George Campbell.

Reading "feminine fifties" works in light of Campbell's faculty psychology helps reveal why this fiction so inspired its original readers; further, acknowledging and reevaluating marginalized reading methods supports an expanding literary canon. Finally, revisiting Campbell's "philosophy of rhetoric" encourages current lovers of discourse to experience literature and life holistically - beyond understanding.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [185]-201) and index.