Mary Moody Emerson and the Origins of Transcendentalism : A Family History:

A Family History

Phyllis Cole Associate Professor of English and Women's Studies Pennsylvania State University

Oxford University Press, USA, Jan 14, 1998 - Biography & Autobiography - 400 pages

Mary Moody Emerson has long been a New England legend, the "eccentric Calvinist aunt" of Ralph Waldo Emerson, wearing a death-shroud as her daily garment. This exciting new study, based on the first reading of all her known letters and diaries, reveals a complex human voice and powerful forerunner of American Transcendentalism. From the years of her famous nephew's infancy, in both private and published writings, she celebrated independence, solitude in nature, and inward communion with God. Mary Moody Emerson inherited both resources and constraints from her family, a lineage of Massachusetts ministers who had earlier practiced spiritual awakening and political resistance against England. Cole discovers a previously unexamined Emerson tradition of fervent piety in the ancestors' own writing and Mary's preservation of their memory. She also examines the position of a woman in this patriarchal family. Barred from the pulpit and university by her sex, she also refused marriage to become a reader, writer, and religious seeker. Cole's biography explores this reading and writing as both a woman's vocation and a gift to Ralph Waldo Emerson. Helping to raise her nephews after their father's death, Mary Moody Emerson urged Waldo the college student to seek solitude in nature and become a divine poet. Cole's pioneering study, tracing crucial lines of influence from Mary Emerson's heretofore unknown texts to her nephew's major works, establishes a fresh and vital source for a central American literary tradition.

What people are saying - Write a review

We haven't found any reviews in the usual places.

Related books

The Selected Letters of Mary Moody Emerson

Mary Moody Emerson
Limited preview - 1993

Mary Moody Emerson

George Tolman
No preview available - 2010

The Remarkable Mrs. Ripley: The Life of Sarah Alden Bradford Ripley

Joan Goodwin
Limited preview - 1998

All related books »

Other editions - View all

Mary Moody Emerson and the Origins of Transcendentalism: A Family History

Phyllis Cole
No preview available - 1998

References to this book

From other books

Emerson and Eros: The Making of a Cultural Hero

Len Gougeon
Limited preview - 2007

A passionate usefulness: the life and literary labors of Hannah Adams

Gary D. Schmidt
Limited preview - 2004

All Book Search results »

From Google Scholar

Prospects for the Study of Margaret Fuller

Larry J Reynolds - 2000 - Resources for American Literary Study

The Outrageous Idea of a Christian Literary Studies: Prospects for ...

Harold K Bush Jr - 2001 - Christianity and Literature

" The Lightning From The Sky And The Sceptre From Tyrants ...

KP VAN ANGLEN

Female Freedom Fighters

Marc Napolitano

All Scholar search results »

References from web pages

JSTOR: Mary Moody Emerson and the Origins of Transcendentalism: A ...
Mary Moody Emerson and the Origins of Transcendentalism: A Family History. By Phyllis Cole. New York: Oxford Univ. Press. 1998. viii, 370 pp. $45.00. ...
links.jstor.org/ sici?sici=0002-9831(199903)71%3A1%3C178%3AMMEATO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Q

Mary Moody Emerson and the Origins of Transcendentalism: A Family ...
Mary Moody Emerson and the Origins of Transcendentalism: A Family History Book by Phyllis Cole; 1998. Read Mary Moody Emerson and the Origins of ...
www.questia.com/ PM.qst?a=o& d=57163903

Transcendentalist Women - 1
A 1998 book, Mary Moody Emerson and the Origins of Transcendentalism: A Family History (Phyllis Cole), uses the diaries and letters of Mary Moody Emerson to ...
womenshistory.about.com/ library/ weekly/ aa031599.htm

Sermons of Ralph Waldo Emerson
Appendix materials and suggested reading. When it comes to Ralph Waldo Emerson, there is so much to read. Emerson's own writings that are available today in ...
www.emersonsermons.com/ appendix.html

Mary Moody Emerson II
Mary Moody Emerson II. Bill Long 11/13/04. Rediscovering More than an Influence. Though Mary Moody Emerson's influence on her nephew Waldo has certainly not ...
www.drbilllong.com/ CurrentEvents/ MaryMoodyEmersonII.html

American Literature Bookstore, E - M.
[Emerson, Mary Moody] Phyllis Cole, MARY MOODY EMERSON AND THE ORIGINS OF TRANSCENDENTALISM: A Family History. NEW copy, trade PAPERBACK. ...
www.scuttlebuttsmallchow.com/ amlit2.html

The Remarkable Mrs
Mary Moody Emerson and the Origins of Transcendentalism: A Family History. By Phyllis Cole. (New. York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Pp. viii, 370. ...
oieahc.wm.edu/ wmq/ Jul00/ goodwincolejuly2000.pdf

Her Circle Ezine
Home · About · Studio HCE · Books · Magnolia Journal · Blogs · Events · Press Room · Subscribe to Her Circle Ezine Subscribe. Browse > Home /...
www.hercircleezine.com/ index.php?s=Mary+moody+Emerson

Horizon Information Portal
... Armstrong, Jennifer, 1961-, c1997. Mary Moody Emerson and the origins of transcendentalism a family history /, [computer file] : Cole, Phyllis. 1998. ...
librarycatalog.flower-mound.com/ ipac20/ ipac.jsp?session=12059HN0L0766.2765& profile=fmpl& uri=search=TL~!Mary%20Moody%...

Larry J. (Larry John) Reynolds - Prospects for the Study of ...
Mary Moody Emerson and the Origins of Transcendentalism: A Family History. New York: Oxford UP, 1998. ------. "The Nineteenth-Century Women's Rights ...
muse.jhu.edu/ journals/ resources_for_american_literary_study/ v026/ 26.2reynolds.html

Bibliographic information

QR code for Mary Moody Emerson and the Origins of Transcendentalism : A Family History

Title	Mary Moody Emerson and the Origins of Transcendentalism : A Family History: A Family History
Author	Phyllis Cole Associate Professor of English and Women's Studies Pennsylvania State University
Publisher	Oxford University Press, USA, 1998
ISBN	019536502X, 9780195365023
Length	400 pages
Subjects	Biography & Autobiography › Literary Biography & Autobiography / Literary

Export Citation	BiBTeX EndNote RefMan

About Google Books - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - Blog - Information for Publishers - Report an issue - Help - Sitemap - Google Home

New! Shop for Books on Google Play