1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910816949903321

Autore

Jones Paul C. <1969->

Titolo

Against the gallows : antebellum American writers and the movement to abolish capital punishment / / Paul Christian Jones

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Iowa City, : University of Iowa Press, c2011

ISBN

1-60938-049-5

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (242 p.)

Disciplina

810.9/3556

Soggetti

Literature and society - United States - History - 19th century

Social problems in literature

Capital punishment in literature

Capital punishment - Moral and ethical aspects - United States

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 183-222) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Haunted by the gallows: Antebellum American literature and capital punishment -- The politics of poetry: The democratic review and anti-gallows verse in 1840s America -- The American Newgate novel: Antebellum crime fiction and anti- gallows sympathy -- Walt Whitman's anti-gallows writing: The appeal to Christian sympathy -- Women's anti-gallows writing: The sentimental strategy of E. D. E. N. Southworth -- Herman Melville's Billy Budd: The legacy of antebellum anti-gallows literature.

Sommario/riassunto

In Against the Gallows, Paul Christian Jones explores the intriguing cooperation of America's writers-including major figures such as Walt Whitman, John Greenleaf Whittier, E. D. E. N. Southworth, and Herman Melville-with reformers, politicians, clergymen, and periodical editors who attempted to end the practice of capital punishment in the United States during the 1840's and 1850's. In an age of passionate reform efforts, the antigallows movement enjoyed broad popularity, waging its campaign in legislatures, pulpits, newspapers, and literary journals.