Vitalist Nation
This article describes romantic vitalism as a postsecular tradition of energy mysticism and traces its elaboration over the last two centuries. It identifies a tension in vitalist thinking, which can tend either toward unregulated self-assertion or toward the proposition that everything that lives...
| Published in: | Christianity & literature |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Johns Hopkins University Press
[2018]
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| In: |
Christianity & literature
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| RelBib Classification: | CD Christianity and Culture KBQ North America TJ Modern history |
| Further subjects: | B
ATLAS Shrugged (Book : Rand)
B Rand B Blake, William, 1757-1827 B Kerouac B Vitalism B Regulation B American fiction 20th century History & criticism B ON the Road (Book : Kerouac) B WHITMAN, Walt, 1819-1892 B Neoliberalism B Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, 1844-1900 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This article describes romantic vitalism as a postsecular tradition of energy mysticism and traces its elaboration over the last two centuries. It identifies a tension in vitalist thinking, which can tend either toward unregulated self-assertion or toward the proposition that everything that lives is holy and deserving of respect. This tension emerges in Blake, Whitman, and Nietzsche. And it distinguishes two of the most important literary manifestos of mid-twentieth century America, Rand's Atlas Shrugged and Kerouac's On the Road. Published in 1957 and immediate bestsellers, these works suggest an America divided by its allegiance to contradictory forms of vitalism. |
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| ISSN: | 2056-5666 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Christianity & literature
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0148333117725605 |