American Puritan Imagination: Essays in Revaluation

Over the last two decades a major revaluation has been taking place of the colonial Puritan imagination. With the growth of interest in early American literature has come increasing recognition of its quality and a better understanding of its place in the continuity of American culture. However, much of the best critical work to date has been published as articles in scholarly journals, and in bringing together for the first time the best work in this growing field the present anthology fills a number of important needs. It is at once a valuabale and accessible introduction for students, a summing-up of a new enterprise, and a guide for further studies.

1. Introduction; 2. The veiled vision: the role of aesthetics in early American intellectual history Norman S. Grabo; 3. Literary consequences of Puritanism Larzer Ziff; 4. The Puritan jeremiad as a literary form David Minter; 5. Spiritual biography and the \'Lords Remembrancers\' Cecelia Tichi; 6. \'With My Owne Eyes\': William Bradford\'s Of Plymouth Plantation Jesper Rosenmeier; 7. The Puritan poetry of Anne Bradstreet Robert D. Richardson, Jr; 8. The example of Edward Taylor Karl Keller; 9. Essays to do good for the glory of God: Cotton Mather\'s Bonifacius David Levin; 10. The art and instruction of Jonathan Edwards\' Personal Narrative Daniel B. Shea, Jr; 11. Benjamin Franklin and the choice of a single point of view John F. Lynen; 12. Christ and Adam as \'figures\' in American literature Ursula Brumm; Selected bibliography; Index.