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Republican pleasures: Emerson's "Circles," oratory, and the Log Cabin Campaign.(Ralph Waldo Emerson)

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From: ATQ (The American Transcendental Quarterly)
Date: 20021201
Author:Ganter, Granville

In recent decades of Emerson scholarship, there have been primarily two ways of situating the political orientation of Emerson's writing: the first, and most widely held, proclaims Emerson's status as an architect of democratic individualism. Generally supported by readings of "Circles," "New England Reformers," and "Self-Reliance," scholars such as Richard Poirier, Sacvan Bercovitch, Stanley Cavell, and George Kateb have argued that Emerson's writing defines American democratic individuality as an endless process of personal renovation. These scholars hold that by saying no to ...

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