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Levin draws on the pragmatist and neopragmatist writings of William James, John Dewey, George Santayana, Richard Rorty, and Cornel West to illuminate the work of modernist literature. In turn, he illuminates the poetic imperatives of pragmatism by tracing the ways in which Henry James, Gertrude Stein, and Wallace Stevens capture the moment of transition-a paradoxical moment that, once it is represented in language or art, requires its own perpetual overcoming. Throughout, he explores how modernist writers, who are masters at recording such "illegible" moments of transition in their poetry and prose, significantly contribute to an expanded understanding of pragmatism and its underlying aesthetics. By linking Emerson with the progressive philosophy of turn-of-the-century pragmatism and the experimentation of American literary modernism, Levin offers new insight into Emerson's lasting influence on later American philosophers, novelists, and poets.
The Poetics of Transition will interest scholars and students in the fields of literary criticism, neopragmatism, literary modernism, and American literature.
| Preface | ||
| Acknowledgments | ||
| Abbreviations | ||
| Introduction: Life, Transition, the Energizing Spirit | 1 | |
| Ch. 1 | Divine Overflowings: Emerson's Pragmatic Idealism | 17 |
| Ch. 2 | William James and the Metaphorics of Transition | 45 |
| Ch. 3 | The Aesthetics of Pragmatism | 67 |
| Ch. 4 | Santayana, Dewey, and the Politics of Transition | 91 |
| Ch. 5 | Henry James and the Drama of Transition | 117 |
| Ch. 6 | Gertrude Stein and the Movement of Words | 145 |
| Ch. 7 | Wallace Stevens and the Pragmatist Imagination | 167 |
| Notes | 199 | |
| Index | 217 |
Overview