Anti-Transcendentalism

19th century (approx. 1840-1860) literary movement that focused on the dark side of humanity and the evilness and guilt of sin

Reasons / Causes

Opposed the optimism and naïve idealism of the transcendentalistsDwelt on guilt and remorse over past sinsDiscontented with current circumstances in America (poverty/unjust and cruel treatment of factory workers, poor educational system, lack of women’s rights, slavery…) so they focused on moral dilemmas and society’s ills

Literary Works

Prose (short stories and novels)allegory

Key ideas / Philosophies

Belief in the potential destructiveness of the human spiritBelief in individual truths, but no universal truths, and the truths of existence are deceitful and disturbingHuman nature is inherently sinful (original sin) and evil is an active force in the universeFocus on the man’s uncertainty and limitations in the universe

View of Nature

Nature is vast and incomprehensible, a reflection of the struggle between good and evilNature is the creation and possession of God and it cannot be understood by human beings

Writing Style

Man vs. Nature conflicts bring out the evil in humanityRaw and morbid dictionFocus on the protagonist’s inner strugglesTypical protagonists are haunted outsiders who are alienated from society Prevalent use of symbolism

Nathaniel Hawthorne

“As the moral gloom of the world overpowers all systematic gaiety, even so was their home of wild mirth made desolate amid the sad forest.”– “The Maypole of Merrymount

“(1836)

Herman Melville

“All men live enveloped in whale-lines. All are born with halters round their necks; but it is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death, that mortals realize the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life.” --Moby Dick

Melville harshly criticizes capitalism, slavery, war and imperialism,

but he shows passionate empathy for “classes of men who bear the same relation to society at large that the wheels do to a coach.”

A final quote from Melville

“If, at my death, my executors, or more properly my creditors, find any precious manuscripts in my desk, then here I prospectively ascribe all the honor and glory to whaling; for the whale ship was my Yale College and my Harvard.”

One Last Dark Soul…

We can’t forget Edgar Allan Poe!

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