The American Aeneas: classical origins of the American self

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction: the quest for the American Aeneas

Translatio cultus

Edward Taylor's classicism

Cotton Mather's epic in prose

Surge for cultural independence: the flourishing of American classicism

George Washington and the Vergilian moment

The American epic writ large: the example of Phillis Wheatley

The radical shift in discourse

The persistence of the American Aeneas in Hawthorne

The persistence of the American Aeneas in Melville

Conclusion: America's classical origins besieged

Notes

Bibliography

Index.