The American Adam: Innocence, Tragedy, and Tradition in the Nineteenth Century

by R.W.B. Lewis

Intellectual history is viewed in this book as a series of "great conversations"—dramatic dialogues in which a culture's spokesmen wrestle with the leading questions of their times. In nineteenth-century America the great argument centered about De Crèvecoeur's "new man," the American, an innocent Adam in a bright new world dissociating himself from the historic past. Mr. Lewis reveals this vital preoccupation as a pervasive, transforming ingredient of the American mind, illuminating history and theology as well as art, shaping the consciousness of lesser thinkers as fully as it shaped the giants of the age. He traces the Adamic theme in the writings of Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, Henry James, and others, and in an Epilogue he exposes their continuing spirit in the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, Ralph Ellison, J. D. Salinger, and Saul Bellow.

Genres: Literary Criticism, Nonfiction, American, Essays

208 pages, Paperback

Published September 15, 1959

About the author

Richard Warrington Baldwin Lewis was an American literary scholar and critic who won a Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography in 1976.

Reviews

[alex angelosanto · Rating 5 out of 5]

“American glory begins at Dawn”-Noah Webster, 1825

There are incredible ideas in this slim volume, almost pouring off every page. Lewis surveys the well-worn authors of the first half the 19th century of American literature: Cooper, Hawthorne, Melville, Emerson, Thoreau. The spirt of James, both the father and the son float above the narrative. It was surprising the author didn’t push past the Civil War and do at least a chapter on Henry James proper, but it works for the overall feel of a book that has as many ideas as pages.

Lewis argues that the idea of First Man, a hero liberated from the shackles of the past is the throughline of 19th Century American Literature. America is the world’s second chance and in that hope is also isolation. The haunted history of Europe weighs heavy on the European mind but also provides context and a foundation for its people making their way in the world. The American hero is raw potential and pure freedom but also alone standing against an abyss.

The reading on Melville here is where the book sings, and maybe the best read on Melville’s work this side of Michael Rogin. The ironic detachment Melville has the Adamic hero, that is transfigured by the death and sacrifices of Billy Budd is beautiful, and a testament to the power of Literature:

“But Billy Budd is, of course, unmistakably the product of aged serenity; its author has unmistakably got beyond his anger or discovered the key to it; and it would be pointless to deny that it is a testament of acceptance… It is woeful, but wisely, no longer madly. Its hero is sacrificially hanged at sea, but its author has come home, like Odysseus.”

I’ll be rolling over the ideas in this book for a long time. It’s an instant core text in the canon of American Studies. If you’re interested in the spirt of American Literature, RWB Lewis will bring you to places you didn’t think possible

[Reynold Witmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book launched my comprehension of American literature forward in an epic leap. Technical to read perhaps, but invaluable in its tracing of the themes and motifs that make America literature

[Greyson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written. Seems to be one of those books which was astute and groundbreaking at the time and has now been assimilated into its general field (American literary criticism. in this case). Obviously dated, but still worthwhile.

[eliza · Rating 5 out of 5]

aged very well.

[Raymonds009 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent exploration into our earliest venture of defining what US literature was and how it broke from our European roots.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished this one in one day, too

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the most challenging books I've had to read for my major (English Secondary Ed) so far. I found myself getting bored with it, yet I also found myself intrigued with the history of American literature and how it came about. I thought the debate between leaving European history (our roots) out of American writing vs incorporating it into American writing to be very interesting. Good read for someone with an interest in literature I suppose.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic study of American Literature. If I could. I would give this book six stars.