ISBN: Ostalo
Godina izdanja: 1912
Jezik: Engleski
Autor: Strani

Democratic Vistas and Other Papers / The Works of Walt Whitman
1912
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Walt Whitman (1819-1892) contributed to the greatest prose of American letters with Democratic Vistas, now considered a classic discussion of the theory of democracy and its possibilities. In this essay he protests the unrestrained materialism, greed, corruption and spiritual failure of what, two years later, Mark Twain would label `The Gilded Age.` Whitman criticizes America for its `mighty, many-threaded wealth and industry` that mask an underlying `dry and flat Sahara` of soul. He calls for a new kind of literature to revive the American population: `Not the book needs so much to be the complete thing, but the reader of the book does.` Whitman was one of the few writers to keep the Emersonian faith in individual and cultural regeneration after the Civil War.

`Democratic Vistas,` written by Walt Whitman in the early 1870s, is a reflective essay that expresses the author’s disillusionment with American society following the Civil War and the transformative effects of industrialization. Whitman critiques the prevailing materialism and cultural stagnation, arguing that despite the nation’s industrial prowess, it lacks a distinct cultural identity and spiritual depth. He contends that a true democratic society requires the emergence of great literature that embodies new artistic expressions, which can foster a sense of individuality and address the aspirations of the masses.