Melville: His World and Work by Andrew Delbanco

Author:Andrew Delbanco [Delbanco, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780307831712
Publisher: Vintage Books
Published: 2012-12-11T16:00:00+00:00

What we have here is a parody of the Romantic author imagining himself as high priest charged by God to bring forth Truth. It was an idea of authorship first articulated for the English-speaking world by Carlyle, who in 1827 had introduced Anglo-American readers to the ideas of the German philosopher Johann Fichte:

According to Fichte, there is a “Divine Idea” pervading the visible Universe; which visible Universe is indeed but its symbol and sensible manifestation.… To the mass of men this Divine Idea of the world lies hidden; yet to discern it, to seize it, and live wholly in it, is the condition of all genuine virtue, knowledge, freedom; and the end therefore of all spiritual effort in every age. Literary Men are the appointed interpreters of this Divine Idea; a perpetual priesthood, we might say, standing forth generation after generation, as the dispenser and living types of God’s everlasting wisdom.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.