Hardback : $150.00
Although the impact of works such as Common Sense and The Rights of Man has led historians to study Thomas Paine's role in the American Revolution and political scientists to evaluate his contributions to political theory, scholars have tacitly agreed not to treat him as a literary figure. This book not only redresses this omission, but also demonstrates that Paine's literary sensibility is particularly evident in the very texts that confirmed his importance as a theorist. And yet, because of this association with the 'masses', Paine is often dismissed as a mere propagandist. Thomas Paine and the Literature of Revolution recovers Paine as a transatlantic popular intellectual who would translate the major political theories of the eighteenth century into a language that was accessible and appealing to ordinary citizens on both sides of the Atlantic.
Although the impact of works such as Common Sense and The Rights of Man has led historians to study Thomas Paine's role in the American Revolution and political scientists to evaluate his contributions to political theory, scholars have tacitly agreed not to treat him as a literary figure. This book not only redresses this omission, but also demonstrates that Paine's literary sensibility is particularly evident in the very texts that confirmed his importance as a theorist. And yet, because of this association with the 'masses', Paine is often dismissed as a mere propagandist. Thomas Paine and the Literature of Revolution recovers Paine as a transatlantic popular intellectual who would translate the major political theories of the eighteenth century into a language that was accessible and appealing to ordinary citizens on both sides of the Atlantic.
Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. Inventing an American public: the Pennsylvania Magazine and revolutionary American political discourse; 2. 'Could the Wolf Bleat Like the Lamb': Paine's critique of the early American public sphere; 3. Writing revolutionary history; 4. The science of revolution: technological metaphors and scientific methodology in Rights of Man and The Age of Reason; 5. 'Strong Friends and Violent Enemies': the historical construction of Thomas Paine through the nineteenth century; Epilogue: Paine and nineteenth-century American literary history; Works cited; Index.
This book examines how Thomas Paine created a new literature of politics bridging political philosophy and everyday knowledge.
"Edward Larkin's impressive study of Paine's literary achievement
takes such moments of rhetorical complexity seriously. This book is
really the first to assess Paine's place in eighteenth-century
print culture by analyzing a broad range of his writings...Larkin
offers historical context and careful rhetorical analysis of
well-known writings such as Common Sense, The Rights of Man (1791),
and The Age of Reason (179495), as well as the less canonical
Letter to the Abbé Raynal (1782) and The Letter to George
Washington (1796)....The most impressive features of this book are
Larkin's willingness to creatively reconceptualize genre and his
ability to find important figurative and thematic relations within
the Paine canon."
-William and Mary Quarterly
"the analysis of Paine's writings is illuminating. If there are
some who still doubt the sophistication of Paine's thought and the
seriousness of purpose with which he challenged hierarchy, Larkin's
cogent book should convince them otherwise." -Matthew Rainbow Hale,
Goucher College
"Larkin's study should strengthen Paine's reputation, and this
study should become an important s tarting point for students and
teachers of teh Revolutionary period. Larkin has done Paine, and
us, a great service." - Scott Slawinksi, Western Michigan
University
"Only in htel ast few decades have scholars begun to take a
balanced view of Paine, and a recent spate of books and articles on
his tempestuous career and powerful pen bode well for a fuller
understanding of this itnriguing individual. Among the best of
these recent works, Edward Larkin's literary study of Paine's prose
is a much needed complement of the political, historical, and
philosophical emphases of other books and articles. Larkin
reconstructs the significance of Paine's editorship of the
Pennsylvania Magazine as a touchstone for the idea of an inclusive
American public." - Ben Ponder, Northwestern University The
Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
