Lincoln's Miniature Bible : Performing Sacred History in the
Gettysburg Address

J 2019

Lincoln's Miniature Bible : Performing Sacred History in the Gettysburg Address

SMITH, Jeffrey Alan

Basic information

Original name

Lincoln's Miniature Bible : Performing Sacred History in the Gettysburg Address

Authors

SMITH, Jeffrey Alan (840 United States of America, guarantor, belonging to the institution)

Edition

Brno Studies in English, Brno, Masarykova univerzita, 2019, 0524-6881

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Článek v odborném periodiku

Field of Study

60206 Specific literatures

Country of publisher

Czech Republic

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

References:

Smith, "Lincoln's Miniature Bible" (Brno Studies in English)

RIV identification code

RIV/00216224:14210/19:00117002

Organization unit

Faculty of Arts

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.5817/BSE2019-1-11

Keywords in English

Abraham Lincoln; Gettysburg Address; American Civil War; Bible; Christianity; political rhetoric; WaltWhitman; William H. Herndon

Abstract

V originále

Analysts of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address have noted its reliance on religious and liturgicallanguage and motifs, but have not fully recognized the intricate way in which is mimics the Bible, replicatingthe "U-shape" of "type" and "antitype" that Northrop Frye and others have identified as the structuringprinciple of Christian Scripture. Elaborating this schema with remarkable care, Lincoln in effect re-createssacred or "salvation" history in miniature, casting the ephemeral words and event of the moment as the focalpoint of human destiny. The resulting dialectical tension, which counterposes the fleeting or disposable to theprofoundly important, refutes – but was also carried forward – in the popular legend that the address washastily written on the back of an envelope. In other instructive ways, too, it helped to generate the mythicmeanings that Americans have attached both to the address and to Lincoln himself.

Links

MUNI/A/1003/2017, interní kód MU

Name: Profilace výzkumných zaměření v anglofonní lingvistické a literární vědě III (Acronym: PROVYZAN III)

Investor: Masaryk University, Category A

Citovat

SMITH, Jeffrey Alan. Lincoln's Miniature Bible : Performing Sacred History in the Gettysburg Address. Brno Studies in English. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2019, vol. 45, No 1, p. 171-189. ISSN 0524-6881. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.5817/BSE2019-1-11.

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   doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.5817/BSE2019-1-11},
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   issn = {0524-6881},
   journal = {Brno Studies in English},
   title = {Lincoln's Miniature Bible : Performing Sacred History in the Gettysburg Address},
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   volume = {45},
   year = {2019}
}

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N2  - Analysts of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address have noted its reliance on religious and liturgicallanguage and motifs, but have not fully recognized the intricate way in which is mimics the Bible, replicatingthe "U-shape" of "type" and "antitype" that Northrop Frye and others have identified as the structuringprinciple of Christian Scripture. Elaborating this schema with remarkable care, Lincoln in effect re-createssacred or "salvation" history in miniature, casting the ephemeral words and event of the moment as the focalpoint of human destiny. The resulting dialectical tension, which counterposes the fleeting or disposable to theprofoundly important, refutes – but was also carried forward – in the popular legend that the address washastily written on the back of an envelope. In other instructive ways, too, it helped to generate the mythicmeanings that Americans have attached both to the address and to Lincoln himself.
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SMITH, Jeffrey Alan. Lincoln's Miniature Bible : Performing Sacred History in the Gettysburg Address. \textit{Brno Studies in English}. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2019, vol.~45, No~1, p.~171-189. ISSN~0524-6881. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.5817/BSE2019-1-11.

Detailed Information on Publication Record