LEADER 04029nam 2200613 450 001 9910460026303321 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a0-8262-7316-5 035 $a(CKB)3710000000238810 035 $a(EBL)3440861 035 $a(SSID)ssj0001387904 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11755426 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0001387904 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)11383312 035 $a(PQKB)10790111 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3440861 035 $a(OCoLC)892878884 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse33465 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL3440861 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10932272 035 $a(OCoLC)893678349 035 $a(EXLCZ)993710000000238810 100 $a20140924h20142014 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur|n|---||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aCommunities of death $eWhitman, Poe, and the American culture of mourning /$fAdam C. Bradford ; jacket design, Jennifer Cropp 210 1$aColumbia, Missouri :$cUniversity of Missouri Press,$d2014. 210 4$dİ2014 215 $a1 online resource (264 p.) 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 $a0-8262-2019-3 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 327 $aIntroduction. Ascendant harmonies : Whitman's "Art singing and heart singing" in Poe's Broadway journal of 1845 -- Inspiring death : Poe's poetic aesthetics and the "communities" of mourning -- Horrifying (re)inscriptions : Poe's transcendent Gothic and the 'effects' of reading -- The collaborative construction of a death-defying cryptext : Walt Whitman's Leaves of grass -- Embodying the book : mourning for the masses in Walt Whitman's Drum-taps -- Aggregating Americans : the political immortality of Walt Whitman's Two rivulets -- Afterword(s) : curious conclusions. 330 $aTo 21st century readers, 19th century depictions of death look macabre if not maudlin--the mourning portraits and quilts, the postmortem daguerreotypes, and the memorial jewelry now hopelessly, if not morbidly, distressing. Yet this sentimental culture of mourning and memorializing provided opportunities to the bereaved to assert deeply held beliefs, forge social connections, and advocate for social and political change. This culture also permeated the literature of the day, especially the works of Edgar Allan Poe and Walt Whitman. In Communities of Death, Adam C. Bradford explores the ways in which the ideas, rituals, and practices of mourning were central to the work of both authors. While both Poe and Whitman were heavily influenced by the mourning culture of their time, their use of it differed. Poe focused on the tendency of mourners to cling to anything that could remind them of their lost loved ones; Whitman focused not on the mourner but on the soul's immortality, positing an inevitable reunion. Yet Whitman repeatedly testified that Poe's Gothic and macabre literature played a central role in spurring him to produce the transcendent Leaves of Grass. By unveiling a heretofore marginalized literary relationship between Poe and Whitman, Bradford rewrites our understanding of these authors and suggests a more intimate relationship among sentimentalism, romanticism, and transcendentalism than has previously been recognized. Bradford's insights into the culture and lives of Poe and Whitman will change readers' understanding of both literary icons. 606 $aDeath in literature 606 $aMourning customs in literature 606 $aAmerican poetry$y19th century$xHistory and criticism 608 $aElectronic books. 615 0$aDeath in literature. 615 0$aMourning customs in literature. 615 0$aAmerican poetry$xHistory and criticism. 676 $a809.933548 700 $aBradford$b Adam C.$0884784 702 $aCropp$b Jennifer 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910460026303321 996 $aCommunities of death$91975710 997 $aUNINA