Whitman has long been more than a celebrated American author. He has become a kind of hero, whose poetry vindicates beliefs not only about poetry but also about sexuality and power. In Whitman Possessed: Poetry, Sexuality, and Popular Authority , Mark Maslan presents a challenging theory of Whitman's poetics of possession and his understandings of individual and national identity. By reading his works in relation to nineteenth-century theories of sexual desire, poetic inspiration, and political representation, Maslan ...
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Whitman has long been more than a celebrated American author. He has become a kind of hero, whose poetry vindicates beliefs not only about poetry but also about sexuality and power. In Whitman Possessed: Poetry, Sexuality, and Popular Authority , Mark Maslan presents a challenging theory of Whitman's poetics of possession and his understandings of individual and national identity. By reading his works in relation to nineteenth-century theories of sexual desire, poetic inspiration, and political representation, Maslan argues that the disintegration of individuality in Whitman's texts is not meant to undermine cultural hierarchies, but to make poetic and political authority newly viable. In particular, Maslan explores the social impact of nineteenth-century sexual hygiene literature on Whitman's works. He argues that Whitman developed his ideas about poetry, sexuality, and authority by responding to a prominent argument that desire subjected male bodies to a penetrating and feminizing force. By identifying poetic inspiration with this erotic dynamic, Whitman imbued his poetic voice with a kind of transformative power. Whitman aligned his poetry with an impartial authority hard to find elsewhere and inclined his work as a poet to speak for the voiceless, for the masses, and for an entire nation.
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Add this copy of Whitman Possessed: Poetry, Sexuality, and Popular to cart. $29.15, good condition, Sold by Aardvark Books Ltd rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Bucknell, HEREFORDSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2001 by The Johns Hopkins University Pre.
Add this copy of Whitman Possessed: Poetry, Sexuality, and Popular to cart. $30.15, fair condition, Sold by Book Culture Inc. rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from New York, NY, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by Johns Hopkins University Press.
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Seller's Description:
Fair. Obviously well-worn, but no text pages missing. May have highlighting and marginalia, but markings do not interfere with readability. Textbooks do not have accompanying CDs or access codes. Ships from an indie bookstore in NYC. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 256 p.
Add this copy of Whitman Possessed: Poetry, Sexuality, and Popular to cart. $88.93, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by John Hopkins University Press.
