Transcendentalism

Literary/ Cultural Context Note

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.2: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth Century, 1783-1900.
Vol. editors: J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University)

Domains

Schools and Theories (philosophy)

Dates

Date of occurrence 1820-1870

Places

United States (Location)

Resources

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A loosely defined literary, philosophical and cultural movement of the early 19th century, based in New England. Its central focus was an idealistic belief in the individual's spiritual ability to transcend the bodily and empirical and discover a unity with creation. Among the notable transcendentalists were writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Margaret Fuller.

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