Randall A. Clack

The Marriage of Heaven and Earth

Alchemical Regeneration in the Works of Taylor, Poe, Hawthorne, and Fuller

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

From the Middle Ages to the close of the 17th century, alchemy was fundamental to Western culture, as scores of experimenters sought to change lead into gold. Though its significance declined with the rise of chemistry, alchemy continued to captivate the imagination of writers and its images still appear in modern creative works. This book examines the literary representation of alchemical theory and the metaphor of alchemical regeneration in the works of Edward Taylor, Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Margaret Fuller. While Taylor used alchemical metaphors to illustrate the redeeming grace of God upon the soul, these same metaphors were used by Poe, Hawthorne, and Fuller to depict a broader concept of redemption. These later writers used alchemical imagery to describe both the regeneration of the individual and the possible transformation of society. For Poe, alchemy became a metaphor for the transforming power of imagination; for Hawthorne, it became a means of representing the redeeming power of love; for Fuller, it figured the reconciliation of gender opposites. Thus these four American writers incorporated the idea of regeneration in their works, and the tropes and metaphors of the medieval alchemists provided a fascinating way of imagining the transformative process.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury 3PL
• Seitenzahl: 170
• Erscheinungstermin: 5. September 2000
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 235mm x 157mm x 14mm
• Gewicht: 408g
• ISBN-13: 9780313312694
• ISBN-10: 0313312699
• Artikelnr.: 21694720

Autorenporträt

Randall A. Clack

Inhaltsangabe

Abbreviations Alchemy in Early America Edward Taylor and the Transmutation
of Soul Alchemical Spirits in Eighteenth-Century America Poe's Alchemy and
the Regeneration of Imagination Hawthorne's Alchemy of Love Fuller and the
Golden Seed Epilogue Works Cited Index