Liberalism, Theology, and the Performative in Antebellum American Literature

The 1850s United States witnessed a far-reaching political, social, and economic crisis. Symptomatic of this, a wide-range of narrative fiction from sentimental novels to sensational drama identifies a foundational link between liberal institutions and performative utterances.

Autorentext

Patrick McDonald is an Assistant Professor of American Literature and Culture at Bilkent University. He received his Ph.D. at University at Buffalo SUNY and has been published in ESQ, Eighth Lamp, and Researches in African Literature.

Inhalt

Introduction: Liberalism, Performativity, Secularism

Chapter 1: "Sometimes a real one!": Mock Marriage, Performative Utterances, and Liberal Politics in Antebellum City Mysteries Fiction

Chapter 2: Auction Goers or Lynch Mobs?: Authority and Representation in The Quadroon and The Octoroon

Chapter 3: Republican Simpliticy on Trial: Courtrooms, Aesthetics, and the Law

Chapter 4: Contracts without Covenants?: Political Authority in Moby-Dick and The Confidence-Man

Chapter 5: Political Theology in Crisis: Orestes Brownson between Hobbes and Schmitt