Reconstituting the American Renaissance

“Grossman’s emphasis on the class differences between these two writers provides an important corrective to the traditional view of their relationship, which acknowledges their disagreement about the body but otherwise emphasizes their similarities, especially on poetics.” - Mark Maslan , Walt Whitman Quarterly Review

“The periodization of U. S. literary history is not only the focus of Jay Grossman’s ambitious study, but it forms the essential framing device through which his provocative readings of Walt Whitman and Ralph Waldo Emerson occur.” - Christina Zwarg , Modern Philology

"[E]ssential reading for any Emerson or Whitman scholar." - Clare Elliott , Journal of American Studies

"[This book's] contribution lies in its understanding of the ambiguity of constitutional rhetoric and its compelling reading of nontotalizing, yet pivotal, episodes in the careers of Emerson and Whitman." - Vivian R. Pollak , American Literature

"Grossman is not the first author to explore the political and literary nuances of the American Renaissance, but his study is among the most innovative and refreshing. . . . Highly recommended." - D. D. Knight , Choice

"Grossman's perspective is intriguing because it is firmly situated in the new historicism. . . . [He] has much to teach us about ways of thinking about cultural expression during this period, particularly when he homes in on Emerson and Whitman. . . . [A]n important book." - Mary Kupiec Cayton, Journal of American History

"In his rethinking of Whitman and his relation to Emerson, Grossman points the way to a major revision of Matthiessen. Later readings of the period and its underpinnings will surely build on Grossman's foundation to complete his reconstitution of an American Renaissance." - David Van Leer, New England Quarterly

“Jay Grossman powerfully demonstrates how the linguistic cohabits with the political in two of the nineteenth century’s most provocative writers. Reconstituting the American Renaissance thoroughly restructures our understanding of the Emerson/Whitman relationship. Some key, long-held assumptions about these two writers will now have to be completely reconsidered in light of Grossman’s original and compelling critiques of all the familiar encounters between these literary giants.” - Ed Folsom, editor, Walt Whitman Quarterly Review

"Reconstituting the American Renaissance will dramatically change the way scholars view the relationship of Whitman to Emerson and the character of their literary enterprises."
  - Jay Fliegelman, author of Declaring Independence: Jefferson, Natural Language and the Culture of Performance