Word: aarons
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...CONCLUSION of the book is that no writer on either side was able to find any satisfactory meaning in the war; no one could even make it an adequate historical metaphor. Aaron suggests that this lack of meaning comes out of the constraints of American literary conventions in the 19th century; not only did writers duck the issue of race, but also the experience of the common...
American writers felt compelled to "tidy up" the experience of the Civil War--in some ways one could describe all writers as intellectual tidiers of otherwise messy social experiences. But they were not able to do so. Aaron constantly wants to know why; in asking the question he set himself the most rigorous historical task possible: he had to figure out what was not said as well as what...
...literature breaks down into categories, usually determined by age, sometimes by common experience. For example, Emerson and Whittier are grouped together as "Elder Statesmen," Hawthorne, Melville, and Whitman take "a philosophical view of the whole affair," while James, Twain, Howells, and Adams are the "Malingerers." Within these categories Aaron analyzes particular responses and finds that, in spite of the collective failure to come to grips with the War, the conflict was a disturbing and compelling experience for each. Especially to men like Twain and Howells, the War marked the turning point in their own American experience--each went through...
...AARON HAS ALWAYS been what might be described as gently suspicious of the rationalizations and idealizations of writers. He described a personal attitude toward history and literature elsewhere, in an essay called The Treachery Of Recollection...
...mere shadow of its former self when he finally visited there after 50 years. The image of this pathetic South was more dramatic to him than anything else possibly could have been; he rejected Southern chauvinism and identified completely with Southern pain and defeat. In the end, Aaron sees the War as perhaps the central experience in James' life--an all the more tragic and profound experience because he could never quite grasp it. The War hovered around the edges of his consciousness, distorting his sensibility and point of view...