Title: Constituting Americanness
Description: "This work in cultural history and literary criticism suggests a fresh and fruitful approach to the old notion of Americanness. Following Reinhart Koselleck's Begriffsgeschichte, the author proposes that Americanness is not an ordinary word, but a concept with a historically specific semantic field. In the three decades before the Civil War, Americanness was constituted at the intersection of several concepts, in different stages of their respective histories; among these, nation, representation, individualism, sympathy, race, and womanhood. By tracing the representations of these concepts in literary texts of the antebellum era and investigating their over-lapping with the rhetoric of national identification, this study uncovers some of the meaning of Americanness in that period"--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: American National characteristics, History, Nationalism, Politics and government, Social conditions, Politics and culture, Rhetoric, National characteristics, American, in literature, Nationalism in literature, American literature, History and criticism, Politics and literature, National characteristics, american, Nationalism, united states, National characteristics in literature, American literature, history and criticism, 19th century, United states, politics and government, 1815-1861, United states, social conditions, to 1865, Political science, Political aspects, Social history
Places: United States
Time periods: 19th century, 1815-1861, To 1865