February 24 Lecture
"The Transcendental Bible" by Lidian Jackson Emerson
utopia.
The Transcendentalists aren't doing anything to help the less fortunate or the sick.
Egotism is inherent in Transcendentalism.
There's no way to purely apply Emerson's idealism to society.
Satire strengthens the movement.
"The Transcendetalist" by Emerson
What does the ideal transcendentalist do according to Emerson?
Emerson did not want to associate with Brook Farm.
Does Emerson not include himself as a transcendentalist when he refers to them as "they" and not "we"?
On pages 374-375 does Emerson convince you to not want to be a transcendentalist?
"Self-Reliance" by Emerson
Does the piece lead you to a different understanding of Emerson?
Does this piece contain an arrogant and self-righteous tone?
The notion of isolation begins on pages 330-331.
"Woman" from The Conversations of Margaret Fuller
Do we internalize mysogyny?
What parts of gender and sex are biological and cultural norms? How does cultural imagery reflect this?
Vagueness of gender
Is gender only a performance?
Qualifiers exclusive to men or to women in different proportions.
Certain words define genders.
Fuller offers no redefinition of genders.
What does masculine mean?
What a woman could or should be.
Defining man and woman.
Subtopic
Female concerns
Woman as a human and not just a gender.
Defining, escaping, and cultivating were three main thoughts.
The want of vocation.
Escaping or resisting barriers.
According to Fuller there are no intellectual differences between men and women.
Reading Letters
There is no reference in Emerson's writing that the love between him and his wife had ever strayed.
What were the love relationships of Fuller and Emerson?
The death of Emerson's family members, including his son, changed his outlook on Transcendentalism. You start to see shades of the dark romantics in his writing.
Emerson wrote to Margaret Fuller.
September 26, 1840 was the declaration of love from Fuller.
Caroline Sturgis says they may have been making a reference to a piece of writing Emerson and Fuller had read.
1840-1842 was the height of Emerson and Fuller's letter writing.
Hatreds Swift Repulsions by Strauch divides the letters into different sections based on years.
Strauch doesn't see a personal relationship between Emerson and Fuller but friendship.
The Selected Letters of Ralph Waldo Emerson edited by Joel Myerson
Violation of boudaries and revealed secrets. Related to modern social networking privacy concerns.
