1st Edition
Nineteenth-Century American Literature, Religion, and the Search for Grace
Nineteenth-Century American Literature, Religion, and the Search for Grace explores selected texts by four major American authors: Walt Whitman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Sojourner Truth, and Kate Chopin.
This monograph presents a nuanced analysis of the relationship between these authors and religion. While they critique organized religion and challenge the premise of doctrine and the restrictiveness of religious practice, they also depict mercy, redemption, and renewal beyond church walls—offering a lens for considering the American sociopolitical identity. In this study, Ostman relies on the parables of Jesus as a compelling tool to frame these authors’ religious visions, which drew their sense of hope from loss and brokenness. She highlights the remarkable timeline in which the four writers depicted these visions of hope, shared during the years leading up to and through the Civil War (1861–1865). At a time when many other authors made comparisons to the Apocalypse, Whitman, Hawthorne, Truth, and Chopin evinced visions of hope through new religious interpretations.
This volume is a valuable resource for postgraduate students and scholars of American literature, religious studies, and Christian thought.
Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction
1 Nineteenth-Century America, Literature, Religion, and the Search for Grace
2 Whitman and the Politics of Mysticism
3 Hester as a New Religion in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter
4 Narrative of Sojourner Truth and the Personal Relationship With Divinity
5 Kate Chopin’s Religious Vision in At Fault
6 Conclusion
Index
Biography
Heather Ostman is Professor of English, Humanities Curriculum Chair, and Humanities Institute Director at SUNY Westchester Community College in Valhalla, NY. She has previously taught at Vassar College and Fordham University. Dr. Ostman is the author of six books, and she is the editor of five essay collections. In 2024–2025, she served as a Visiting Fellow at the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute. Her work has been supported by two grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, as well as funding from the American Council of Learned Societies and the New York Council for the Humanities. She serves as president of the Kate Chopin International Society.
