Voyages of the Self

Pairs, Parallels and Patterns in American Art and Literature

Barbara Novak

Voyages of the Self marks the third volume of Barbara Novak's trilogy of works, which include her two critically acclaimed books, American Painting of the Nineteenth Century and Nature and Culture, pillars in the field of nineteenth century visual culture of the United States
Novak's second book, Nature and Culture, was chosen as one of the 10 Best Books of the Year in 1980 by the New York Times, and was a nominee for the 1980 National Book Critics Circle Award, American Book Award, and the Los Angeles Times Non-fiction Award, and was an Editor's Choice for Time magazine
Novak has been long acknowledged as one of the premier guides for American art historians

Voyages of the Self

Pairs, Parallels and Patterns in American Art and Literature

Barbara Novak

Description

Barbara Novak is one of America's premier art historians, the author of the seminal books American Painting of the Nineteenth Century and Nature and Culture. Now, with the paperback of Voyages of the Self, this esteemed critic completes the trilogy begun with the two earlier works, offering once again an exhilarating exploration of American art and culture. In this book, Novak explores several inspired pairings of key writers and painters, drawing insightful parallels between such masters as John Singleton Copley and Jonathan Edwards, Winslow Homer and William James, Frederic Edwin Church and Walt Whitman, and Jackson Pollock and Charles Olson. Through these and other groupings, Novak tracks the varied meanings of the self in America, in which the most salient characteristics of each artist or writer is shown to draw from-and in turn influence-the larger map of American life. Two major threads weaving through the book are the American preoccupation with the "object" and our continuing return to pragmatism. Through fruitful comparisons-whether between Copley and Edwards, or Lane and Emerson, or Ryder and Dickinson-Novak sheds unmatched light on our nation's artistic heritage.

Voyages of the Self

Pairs, Parallels and Patterns in American Art and Literature

Barbara Novak

1:Copley and Edwards: Self, Consciousness, and Thing
2:Emerson and Lane: Luminist Time and the Transcendental Aboriginal Self
3:Thoreau and the Indian Self: Circles, Silence and Democratic Land
4:Whitman and Church: Transcendant Optimism and the Democratic Self
5:Homer and James: The Pragmatic Self made Concrete
6:Dickinson and Ryder: Immortality, Eternity and the Reclusive Self
7:Pollock and Olson: Time, Space, and the Activated Bodily Self

Voyages of the Self

Pairs, Parallels and Patterns in American Art and Literature

Barbara Novak

Author Information

Barbara Novak, Helen Goodhart Altschul Professor of Art History Emertia, Barnard College, Columbia University

Voyages of the Self

Pairs, Parallels and Patterns in American Art and Literature

Barbara Novak

Reviews and Awards

""No one has done more to further the place of this work in museum collections and in history booksVoyages of the Self , generously illustrated, is billed as the last in a trilogy, though there's no need to read her previous efforts to appreciate it. Novak distills, refines and expands upon her earlier books, looking at painters in relation to the literature and major philosophical trends of the dayHer insights about writers are as fine as those about artists The chapters have a momentum that carries us from chapter to chapter, from the mid-18th century through the mid-20th century. And her way of conveying the stories of these artists and writers makes one want to view and read them anew. What better purpose can arts criticism and history serve?"—San Diego Union Tribune"