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The Middle East in Antebellum America: the cases of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allan Poe

Almansour, Ahmed Nidal
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1133283136

Abstract Details

2005, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, English.
The presence of the Middle East in the works of American artists between the Revolution and the Civil War is pervasive and considerable. What makes this outlandish element of critical significance is that its proliferation coincided with the emerging American literary identity. The wide spectrum of meanings that was related to it adds even more significance to its critical value. In its theoretical approach, this work uses Raymond Schwab’s The Oriental Renaissance as a ground for all its arguments. It considers the rise of the Oriental movement in America to be a continuation of what had already started of Oriental researches in Europe. Like their counterparts in Europe, the American writers who are selected for this study were genuinely interested in identifying with the Oriental thought. The European mediation, however, should not be allowed to hold any significance other than pointing to the fact that French, German, and English Orientalist organizations were more technically equipped. The sentiment of identification with the East resonated equally on both sides of the Atlantic. This work investigates three cases from antebellum America: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allan Poe. It shows that each one of these writers found in the East the apt means to address a concern of a national nature. To Ralph Waldo Emerson, Sufism, through the Persian poets, spoke intimately to what the nation needed of reform on the individual level. He gravitated to their theory of man’s divinity and perfection. To Nathaniel Hawthorne, the history of the East provided events and characters that spoke allegorically to a need in American society to recognize more often the individualism of its citizens. To Edgar Allan Poe, the Arabesque multiplied the world of his fiction, and allowed him to critique the regional voices of the divided nation.
Steven Fink (Advisor)
260 p.
Literature, American
Middle East,; Sufism,; Arabesque,; Emerson,; Hawthorne,; Poe.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Almansour, A. N. (2005). The Middle East in Antebellum America: the cases of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allan Poe [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1133283136

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Almansour, Ahmed. The Middle East in Antebellum America: the cases of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allan Poe. 2005. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1133283136.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Almansour, Ahmed. "The Middle East in Antebellum America: the cases of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allan Poe." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2005. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1133283136

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.