Title The Emerson brothers : a fraternal biography in letters / Ronald A. Bosco and Joel Myerson

Published Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2006

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Description 1 online resource (xxv, 416 pages, 10 unnumbered pages of plates) : illustrations, portraits Contents "What poems are many private lives": the Emerson brothers -- William in Germany -- Edward and Charles -- Aunt Mary and the brothers Emerson -- Charles and Elizabeth -- William and Waldo: finances and family Summary "The Emerson Brothers: A Fraternal Biography in Letters" is a narrative and epistolary biography based upon the lifelong correspondence exchanged among the four Emerson brothers: Charles Chauncy, Edward Bliss, Ralph Waldo, and William Emerson, as well as Charles' 181 letters to his fiance Elizabeth Hoar (one of the few extended series of courtship letters surviving from this period) and 86 letters from the brothers to their paternal aunt Mary Moody Emerson in which they discuss their moral and theological upbringing and views. Often composed as "round robin" exchanges among and between the brothers, the Emerson brothers' correspondence is the last great untapped body of personal writings remaining in manuscript from within the Emerson family.; These letters illuminate aspects of Waldo's character and personal and intellectual development that, lacking access to the letters, even his most sympathetic biographers and critics have thus far failed to appreciate fully; reveal that all of the brothers were invigorated by their shared sense of origin as well as by a sense of duty to improve upon their ancestors' literary and intellectual work; shine new light on Waldo's debt to William for his first serious encounters with German Higher Criticism in the mid 1820s; present new evidence about the devastation Waldo felt at the death in 1831 of his first wife, a correction to Waldo's own sometimes under-recorded sense of grief at her passing; demonstrate that Waldo's desire for financial security for himself, his mother, and his brothers was at least as powerful a motivation behind his resignation from Boston's Second Church in 1832 as were Ellen's death and his reservations about the Lord's Supper.; They mark Waldo's self-conscious and steady progress away from the forms of institutionalized religion toward the career of lecturer, essayist, poet, and social reformer which earned him his reputation as a principal architect of American culture Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 359-402) and index Notes Print version record Subject Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882 -- Family Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882 -- Correspondence Emerson, Charles Chauncy, 1808-1836. Emerson, Edward Bliss, 1805-1834. Emerson, William, 1801-1868. Emerson family. SUBJECT Emerson, Charles Chauncy, 1808-1836 fast Emerson, Edward Bliss, 1805-1834 fast Emerson family fast Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882 fast Emerson, William, 1801-1868 fast Subject Authors, American -- 19th century -- Family relationships Authors, American -- 19th century -- Correspondence Brothers -- United States -- Correspondence LITERARY COLLECTIONS -- Essays. BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY -- Literary. Authors, American Authors, American -- Family relationships Brothers Families United States Genre/Form Personal correspondence Form Electronic book Author Myerson, Joel ISBN 1423760883 9781423760887 0195140362 9780195140361 1280481420 9781280481420 1602569592 9781602569591 9780195349856 0195349857

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