{"product_id":"preaching-and-the-rise-of-dawn-coleman-9780814254479","title":"Preaching and the Rise of the American Novel","description":"\u003ci\u003ePreaching and the Rise of the American Novel\u003c\/i\u003e by Dawn Coleman recovers a crucial moment in the history of the intimate yet often contentious relationship between religion and literature. Coleman's book highlights the intersection of two cultural trajectories in America around 1850, both often downplayed in literary histories: a boom in preaching, associated with the growth of evangelicalism and the country's oratorical traditions, and the long struggle of the novel, still facing considerable disdain at mid-century, to achieve moral legitimacy and aesthetic autonomy. Before the Civil War, the preacher in the pulpit was the culture's paradigmatic voice of moral authority, and novelists who wished to establish the moral value of their own storytelling needed to incorporate sermons. This book explores how antebellum ministers sought to preach effective, authoritative sermons and how novelists sought to claim a similar authority through canny representations of preachers, often veiled critiques of actual ministers, and sermonic voice, or a creative reworking of the sound of preaching. Such intense engagement with sermons shaped some of the period's most interesting and important novels, including \u003ci\u003eThe Scarlet Letter\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Quaker City, Moby-Dick\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eUncle Tom's Cabin\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eClotel\u003c\/i\u003e. In illuminating how novelists sought to displace traditional religious institutions, \u003ci\u003ePreaching and the Rise of the American Novel\u003c\/i\u003e reminds readers of the deep connections between Americans' religious practices and their literature and speaks to how the processes of secularization are often less concerned with rejecting the elements of religion than reimagining them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Dawn Coleman\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0814254470\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780814254479\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Ohio State University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/10\/2017\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 306\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.99lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.69d","brand":"Dawn Coleman","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43926423798015,"sku":"9780814254479","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/products\/img_2fb9a2e3-ebc1-4c49-87ef-6582a4bd0ec5.jpg?v=1681083009","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/preaching-and-the-rise-of-dawn-coleman-9780814254479","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}