History, Abolition, and the Ever-Present Now in Antebellum American Writing

The Ever-Present Now explores the meaning and possibilities of the present and its relationship to history and historicity in literary texts by nineteenth-century writers, advocating for a fluid and dynamic interaction between the past and the present.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 01 September 2022
Publisher: Oxford University Press

The Ever-Present Now delves into the profound significance and boundless possibilities of the present, exploring its intricate relationship with history and historicity across a diverse array of literary texts. Specifically, this study focuses on the writings of several figures in antebellum US literary history, although not all of them are necessarily associated with the romantic movement of that era. By concentrating on nineteenth-century writers who yearned for immediate social change, such as those advocating for the immediate emancipation of slaves, as opposed to those who envisioned a gradual end to slavery, the book reclaims some of the political potency of romanticism. Through meticulous close readings of texts by renowned authors such as Washington Irving, John Neal, Catharine Sedgwick, Frederick Douglass, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Herman Melville, Insko compellingly argues that these writers engaged in literary historiography that treats the past as neither a mere reflection of present interests nor as an irrevocably distant "other," but rather as a complex and multifaceted interplay between the two. In lieu of a rigid and linear past, these writers envision history as an experience deeply rooted in the fluid, dynamic, and ever-evolving present. This political, philosophical, and aesthetic disposition, known as romantic presentism, asserts that the present is the primary sphere of human action, experience, and ethical contemplation, thereby shaping the very foundations of democratic possibility.

Weight: 386g
Dimension: 234 x 156 x 14 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780192871435