Importance esprit puritain 

; modernisme y résiste, mais puritanisme perdure

Mvt transcendentaliste influença auteurs fic modernes tels Melville, Hawthorne… mais qui en
rejettèrent éléM -> nature dangereuse in Moby Dick tandis que pr transcendentalistes, nature à
image Dieu, qui est partt (panthéisme)

Évaluat° : en semaine 7, écrit 2h — q° sur info cours magistral ; plan détaillé commentaire littéraire ;
30% note contrôle continu, nul examen terminal cette année — comm oral par gp, recommendat°
2gdes parties â 2s/s-parties (3 possibles), chaque présentat° doit terminer par q° posée à classe, qui
doit y répondre le + habileM possible ; chaque étudiant du gp doit participer, tlm doit s’occuper du
travail en entier ; support écrit PP nötig, possibilité montrer extraits vidéos, images, etc ; ce qu’on dit
à l’oral ne doit pas apparaître sur support visuel ; must rely on 2 peer-reviewed academic secondary
sources, en envoyer référence au prof par mail avant présentat° (et/ou indiquer sur PP)

MLA (Modern Language Association) format

19th c. lit

Contradictory claims : independence & originality v. persistent European heritage; Puritanism

(EU) v Unitarianism (freer spirit, emphasis on social virtues, lesser importance of theological
doctrine); 2 paths to Transcendentalism: individual/spiritual regen (Emerson, Thoreau) &
soc/pol reforms (Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience, Fuller’s feminist pamphlet)

Desire for truly American lit, independent of Europe; possibility to create, produce… truly
national lit

Unitarianism asked of people to use religion positively to become a good person, no Puritan
predestined tragic fate to be examined and understood in this sublunar postlapsarian realm
nonsense

Puritan churches slowly but surely lost 18 th c. status; in political agenda of Unitarian church,
abolition of slavery, hence why suddenly popular in North, places individual at center of his
life, whereas Puritans sought to assign individuals role in community

Transcendentalism is a spiritual philosophy, exacerbates individualism of Unitarianism,

thinking for oneself; Tra critiqued Uni, as remained church institution, still saw religions as
crippling for mind bc still number of doctrines and traditions to abide by

Transcendentalists influenced by European philosophers (Kant & Hegel) and English writers
(Carlyle & Coleridge)

Power of imagination towards independence of mind & soul, > reason & intellectualism
according to Transcendentalists (though not outright rejected), development of free will &
knowledge of world to make good decisions on path life going to take

Transcendentalism reached into every aspect of American life, had wide impact on soc &
literary figures

3 key thinkers

Emerson, Thoreau, Fuller

Tenets
 Impersonal God everywhere & in everyone (pantheism, critique of institutionalized religion;
focus on power of intuition & direct experience); spontaneous feelings & intuition; Over-
soul/life force/universal spirit; nature is positive, divine and didactic (nature is doorway to
spiritual world; individualism must outweigh external authority, conformity, societal rules
(self-reliance = self-empowerment)

Synecdoche -> part for whole (sail for ship, physical part of thing to represent thing); metonymy ->
thing for another, to which is associated (such as crown to mean monarchy)