The Devil and Doctor Dwight Satire and Theology in the Early American Republic |
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Author:
| Wells, Colin |
Series title: | Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture Ser. |
ISBN: | 978-0-8078-2715-4 |
Publication Date: | Apr 2002 |
Publisher: | University of North Carolina Press
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Book Format: | Hardback |
List Price: | AUD $157.00 |
Book Description:
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At the close of the eighteenth century, Timothy Dwight--poet, clergyman, and, later, president of Yale College--waged a literary and intellectual war against the forces of "infidelity." The Devil and Doctor Dwight reexamines this episode by focusing on The Triumph of Infidelity (1788), the verse satire that launched Dwight's campaign and, Colin Wells argues, the key to recovering the deeper meaning of the threat of infidelity in the early years of the American republic. Dwight's...
More DescriptionAt the close of the eighteenth century, Timothy Dwight--poet, clergyman, and, later, president of Yale College--waged a literary and intellectual war against the forces of "infidelity." The Devil and Doctor Dwight reexamines this episode by focusing on The Triumph of Infidelity (1788), the verse satire that launched Dwight's campaign and, Colin Wells argues, the key to recovering the deeper meaning of the threat of infidelity in the early years of the American republic. Dwight's campaign against infidelity must also be seen as an early and prescient critique of the ideological underpinnings of Jeffersonian democracy.