Milton Reinvented

Cultural Reception in 19th-Century America and ‘Our Day’

David Boocker

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN: 9783031739583
• eBook ISBN: 9783031739590
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: Literature

This book focuses on the cultural reception of Milton and his works in nineteenth-century America. Using reception theory, the work analyzes the contributions of Milton and his writings to demonstrate how major social movements appropriated him in ways that "reinvent" him, making him what Margaret Fuller called "emphatically American." The book centers on Milton's influence on the movements focused on the development of American Christianity, abolition, and women's suffrage. Each group approaches his writings with different "horizons of expectations" determined, in part, by the social problems they address. Each has unique ways of disseminating and consuming information about Milton and his writings, sometimes determined by how readers in different geographical locations read him. And, each debate makes extensive use of American periodicals of the period, revealing critical information about how Milton's writings were disseminated and deployed. Milton's presence in these debates helped shape American society at the time and provides proof for us of how Milton can remain relevant in the issues faced by Americans in 'our day.'

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. Introduction: Emphatically American Milton
• 2. “Religion is Freeing Itself”: Milton and Religious Liberty in the Nineteenth Century
• 3. “In the company of Milton”: Milton and Abolition in the Nineteenth Century
• 4. “Women Are Indebted to Milton”: Milton and Woman’s Rights in the Nineteenth Century
• 5. “Milton in Our Day”: His Legacy in America
• Back Matter