{"product_id":"the-law-of-the-heart-sam-b-girgus-9780292739697","title":"The Law of the Heart: Individualism and the Modern Self in American Literature","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Law of the Heart\u003c\/i\u003e is a vigorous challenge to the prevailing concept of the \"antidemocratic\" image of the self in the American literary and cultural tradition. Sam B. Girgus counters this interpretation and attempts to develop a new understanding of democratic individualism and liberal humanism in American literature under the rubric of literary modernism.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe image of the individual self who retreats inward, conforming to a distorted \"law of the heart,\" emerges from the works of such writers as Cooper and Poe and composer Charles Ives. Yet, as Girgus shows, other American writers relate the idea of the self to reality and culture in a more complex way: the self confronts and is reconciled to the paradox of history and reality.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn Girgus' view, the tradition of pragmatic, humanistic individualism provides a foundation for a future where individual liberty is a major priority. He uses literary modernism as a bridge for relating contemporary social conditions to crises of the American self and culture as seen in the works of writers including Emerson, Howells, Whitman, Henry James, William James, Fitzgerald, Bellow, and McLuhan.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Sam B. Girgus\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0292739699\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780292739697\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Texas Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/01\/1979\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 192\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.64lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.45d","brand":"Sam B. Girgus","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46906551861503,"sku":"9780292739697","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_916e368f-976d-4859-8efd-535e96a51969.jpg?v=1748770759","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-law-of-the-heart-sam-b-girgus-9780292739697","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}