Voicing America: Language, Literary Form, and the Origins of the United StatesHow is a nation brought into being? In a detailed examination of crucial texts of eighteenth-century American literature, Christopher Looby argues that the United States was self-consciously enacted through the spoken word. Historical material informs and animates theoretical texts by Derrida, Lacan, and others as Looby unravels the texts of Benjamin Franklin, Charles Brockden Brown, and Hugh Henry Brackenridge and connects them to nation-building, political discourse, and self-creation. Correcting the strong emphasis on the importance of print culture in eighteenth-century America, Voicing America uncovers the complex process of early American writers articulating their new nation and reveals a body of literature and a political discourse thoroughly concerned with the power of vocal language. |
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Page vii
... Fathers and Sons 102 III . The Subject of Language 112 IV . Verbal Imposture 118 V. Revolution at a Distance 124 VI . Textual Self - Difference 131 VII . Conversation and Conciliation 138 " The Very Act of Utterance " : Law , Language ...
... Fathers and Sons 102 III . The Subject of Language 112 IV . Verbal Imposture 118 V. Revolution at a Distance 124 VI . Textual Self - Difference 131 VII . Conversation and Conciliation 138 " The Very Act of Utterance " : Law , Language ...
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Voicing America: Language, Literary Form, and the Origins of the United States Christopher Looby No preview available - 1996 |
Common terms and phrases
Adams American Literature American Revolution argument authority Autobiography Benjamin Brackenridge British Burgoyne's called Cambridge Captain Carwin chapter Charles Brockden Brown claim Clara classical republican colonies communication Constitution critical cultural discourse effect English essay fact Farrago father figure Franklin French Revolution guage Henry's Hugh Henry Hugh Henry Brackenridge Ibid ideology imagined independence institutions Irving Irving's J. G. A. Pocock Jacques Derrida James Jefferson language legitimacy letters liberty Library of America linguistic literary Massachusetts means millennial Modern Chivalry narrative narrator nature norms novel origin paternal Patrick Henry Pennsylvania Gazette performance Philadelphia political present Press printed prose question readers reference relation represented republic republican Revo revolutionary rhetoric Saxon sense sermon social society speak speech Teague Teague's textual theory thing Thomas tion trans United utterance ventriloquism verbal vocal voice Volume Wieland William Wirt Wirt's words writing written wrote York