{"product_id":"the-life-and-undeath-of-geoff-hamilton-9780813935287","title":"The Life and Undeath of Autonomy in American Literature","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThe Life and Undeath of Autonomy in American Literature, \u003c\/i\u003e Geoff Hamilton charts the evolution of the fundamental concept of autonomy in the American imaginary across the span of the nation's literary history. Whereas America's ideological roots are typically examined in relation to Enlightenment Europe, this book traces the American literary representation of autonomy back to its pastoral, political, and ultimately religious origins in ancient Greek thought. Tracking autonomy's evolution in America from the Declaration of Independence to contemporary works, Hamilton considers affinities between American and Greek literary characters--Natty Bumppo and Odysseus, Emerson's \"poet\" and Socrates, Cormac McCarthy's Judge Holden and Callicles--and reveals both what American literary history has in common with that of ancient Greece and what is distinctively its own.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe author argues for the link with antiquity not only to understand better the boundaries between self and society but also to show profound transitions in the understanding of autonomy from a nourishing liberty of fulfillment, through an aggressive agency destructive to both human and natural worlds, to a sterile isolation and detachment. The result is an insightful analysis of the history of individualism, the evolution of frontier mythology and American Romanticism, and the contemporary representation of social alienation and violent criminality.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Geoff Hamilton\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0813935288\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780813935287\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Virginia Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 12\/17\/2013\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 168\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.80lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.10h x 6.10w x 0.60d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/01\/2014 pg. 75","brand":"Geoff Hamilton","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48483714040063,"sku":"9780813935287","price":63.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_c2fd0b0c-c06d-4dca-8b09-cbc4d6e1f8e8.jpg?v=1778040177","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-life-and-undeath-of-geoff-hamilton-9780813935287","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}