Intimacy in America: Dreams of Affiliation in Antebellum Literature

243 Pages·2005·1.52 MB·English

by  Peter Coviello

INTIMACY IN AMERICA
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I A
N T I M A C Y I N M E R I C A
Dreams of AfWliation in
Antebellum Literature
Peter Coviello
UniversityofMinnesotaPress
Minneapolis•London
Copyright2005bytheRegentsoftheUniversityofMinnesota
Ashorterversionofchapter2waspublishedas“PoeinLove:Pedophilia,
Morbidity,andtheLogicofSlavery,”ELH70,no.3(2003):875–901.
ReprintedwithpermissionbyTheJohnsHopkinsUniversityPress.
Anearlierversionofchapter4waspublishedas“IntimateNationality:
AnonymityandAttachmentinWhitman,”AmericanLiterature73,no.1
(March2001):85–119.Copyright2001byDukeUniversityPress.
Allrightsreserved.Usedbypermissionofthepublisher.
Passagesfrom“AgonizingAffection:AffectandNationinEarlyAmerica,”
EarlyAmericanLiterature37,no.3(Fall2002):439–68,appearinthe
IntroductionandintheEpilogue.Copyright2002bytheUniversityofNorth
CarolinaPress.Usedbypermissionofthepublisher.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,
storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,
electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,orotherwise,withoutthe
priorwrittenpermissionofthepublisher.
PublishedbytheUniversityofMinnesotaPress
111ThirdAvenueSouth,Suite290
Minneapolis,MN55401-2520
http://www.upress.umn.edu
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Coviello,Peter.
IntimacyinAmerica:dreamsofaffiliationinantebellum
literature/PeterCoviello.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0-8166-4380-6(hc:alk.paper)
ISBN0-8166-4381-4(pbk.:alk.paper)
1.Americanliterature—19thcentury—Historyandcriticism.
2.Intimacy(Psychology)inliterature.3.Nationalcharacteristics,American,
inliterature.4.Difference(Psychology)inliterature.5.Interpersonal
relationsinliterature.I.Title.
PS217.I52C682005
810.9’3553—dc22 2004022511
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmericaonacid-freepaper
TheUniversityofMinnesotaisanequal-opportunityeducatorandemployer.
12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
toAlisonFerris
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
ix
Introduction:“WhatIsItThenbetweenUs?”
1
1.IntimateProperty:RaceandtheCivics
ofSelf-Relation
25
2.TheMelancholyofLittleGirls:Poe,Pedophilia,
andtheLogicofSlavery
59
3.BowelsandFear:Nationalism,Sodomy,and
WhitenessinMoby-Dick
91
4.LovingStrangers:Intimacyand
NationalityinWhitman
127
Epilogue:NATIONMOURNS
157
Notes
177
Index
219
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Acknowledgments
Intimacy in America has led a peripatetic life. The book was
conceivedinIthaca,kick-startedinSanFrancisco,revisedand
revisedagaininChicago,andWnallybroughttoanchorherein
coastalMaine.Throughthewholecourseoftheseperambulations
I have been favored by the kindness, patience, and generosity of
an astounding collection of people,who together have taught me
volumesaboutthesustainingpoweroffar-Xungintimacies.Fora
very long time now I’ve been anticipating the pleasure of thank-
ingthemfortheirwisecounselandheroicgoodhumor.Ofcourse,
notallofthoselistedhavereadwhat’sinhere;several,I’mpretty
sure,wouldn’tcareto.Buttheyhaveallaffordedmethemostpre-
ciouskindofinspiration:they’vemademehappy.
Firstthanksgotomyteachers—StuartDavis,HelenDeutsch,
DebraFried,EllisHanson,MaryKinzie,ShirleySamuels,Robert
Strunk,JuliaStern,WendyWall,andespeciallyMarkSeltzer—to
whom I am indebted not only for their encouragement and rigor-
ous instruction.Their willingness to believe in me, however baf-
Xingitsometimesseemedtome,wasalsoalwaysheartening.I’ma
teachernowmyself;Ihopesomedaytobeasgoodatitastheyare.
In among all their other gifts to me,my parents,Anthony and
JosephineCoviello,havesomehowmanagedtomakemefeelloved
every day of my life, and for that there will never, ever be ade-
quate thanks. I love them dearly, as I do my brother John and
his son Gio, and hope this book makes them proud. And to my
whole fantastic family,my cousins and uncles and much-beloved
aunts—speciWcally the Carcusas, Carrieras, Ciprianis, Coviellos,
Scognamiglios, Sterners, and more recently the Ferrises, Coops,
ix