American hieroglyphics, the symbol of the Egyptian hieroglyphics in the American Renaissance, John T. Irwin
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Label
American hieroglyphics, the symbol of the Egyptian hieroglyphics in the American Renaissance, John T. Irwin
Language
eng
Index
no index present
Literary form
non fiction
Main title
American hieroglyphics
Medium
electronic resource
Nature of contents
dictionaries
Responsibility statement
John T. Irwin
Sub title
the symbol of the Egyptian hieroglyphics in the American Renaissance
Summary
The discovery of the Rosetta Stone and the subsequent decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics captured the imaginations of nineteenth-century American writers and provided, a focal point for their speculations on the relationships between sign, symbol, language, and meaning. Through fresh readings of classic works by Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, Poe, Hawthorne, and Melville, John T. Irwin's American Hieroglyphics examines the symbolic mode associated with the pictographs. Irwin demonstrates how American Symbolist literature of the period was motivated by what he calls "hieroglyphic doubling," the use of pictographic expression, as a medium of both expression and interpretation. Along the way, he touches upon a wide range of topics that fascinated people of the day, including the journey to the source of the Nile and ideas about the origin of language
Target audience
adult
Incoming Resources
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