Melville's Clarel and the intersympathy of creeds Potter, William 1955- creator text bibliography Criticism, interpretation, etc. History. ohu 2004 monographic eng print xxii, 240 pages ; 24 cm "Clarel, an 18,000-line poem, is one of the longest examples of the "faith-doubt" genre that arose in Victorian times and one that has largely been ignored by Melville critics. Author William Potter argues that Melville's poem Clarel is actually a study in comparative religion - one that explores faith in the post-Darwinian age. It was written at a crossroads in Western thought, when science, technology, nationalism, and imperialism were reshaping the world, and in the process ushered in the modern age. Potter proposes that the poem explains that science may have altered our perception of the world, but it cannot eradicate the basic human need for faith, which is timeless and therefore encompasses far more than the concerns of Western Christianity." "In Melville's Clarel and the Intersympathy of Creeds, Potter examines the poem within a historical context and by so doing endeavors to resolve some of the issues critics claim the poem presents. He reviews the burgeoning field of comparative religion in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and includes discussions of many of the theories and ideas of wellknown figures of the time, such as Hegel. Home, Muller, Emerson, Whitman, and Schopenhauer, and attempts to account for the huge abundance of non-Christian material that appears in the poem. He maintains that Melville answers nineteenth-century questions of faith through the heterodoxical themes and ideas shared by all religions and that lie beneath their very different doctrines - redemptive suffering, the tempered heart, and the aversion to worldliness."--BOOK JACKET. pt. 1. Clarel in the nineteenth century -- 1. Clarel and nineteenth-century comparative religion -- 2. Melville as comparative religionist -- 3. Nineteenth-century comparative religion and the evolutionary model -- 4. Manifest destiny and the "American religion" -- 5. Protestantism, science, and democracy in Clarel -- 6. Beginnings : the Protestant problem -- pt. 2. Comparative religious patterns in Clarel -- 7. "Jerusalem" -- 8. "The wilderness" and "Mar Saba" -- 9. "Bethlehem" -- pt. 3. world's religions in Clarel -- 10. Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism -- 11. Judaism and Christianity. William Potter. Includes bibliographical references (pages 227-233) and index. n-us--- Melville, Herman 1819-1891 Melville, Herman 1819-1891 Religion Melville, Herman 1819-1891 Clarel (Melville, Herman) Melville, Herman (1819-1891) Critique et interprétation Melville, Herman Clarel Melville, Herman 1819-1891 Religion and literature United States History 19th century Religious poetry, American History and criticism Religion Religion and literature Religious poetry, American United States amerikai irodalom vallásos költészet 19. sz irodalomtörténet költő amerikai 19. sz életmű amerikai irodalom 19. sz irodalomtörténet 1800-1899 fast PS2384.C53 P68 2004 813/.3 266:820(73)-1"18" Melville's Clarel and the intersympathy of creeds Potter, William, 1955- Kent, Ohio : Kent State University Press, ©2004 (OCoLC)607386452 087338797X 9780873387972 2004001311 http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0413/2004001311.html http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0413/2004001311.html http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0413/2004001311.html http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0413/2004001311.html DLC 040121 20190422105002.0 in00004057030 eng