Lee, Maurice S. <br/><br/>
Uncertain chances :  science, skepticism, and belief in nineteenth-century American literature / 
Maurice S. Lee. 
 - New York :  Oxford University Press,  2012. 
 - x, 239 pages ;  25 cm 
<br/><br/>Includes bibliographical references and index. 
<br/><br/>Probably Poe -- Moby-Dick and the opposite of providence -- Doubting if doubt itself be doubting: after Moby-Dick -- Douglass's long run -- Roughly Thoreau -- Dickinson's precarious steps, surprising leaps, and bounds. 
<br/><br/> "The role of chance changed in the nineteenth century, and American literature changed with it. Long dismissed as a nominal concept, chance was increasingly treated as a natural force to be managed but never mastered. New theories of chance sparked religious and philosophical controversies while revolutionizing the sciences as probabilistic methods spread from mathematics, economics, and sociology to physics and evolutionary biology. Chance also became more visible in everyday life, as Americans attempted to control its power through weather forecasting, insurance policies, military strategy, and financial dealings. Uncertain Chances shows how the rise of chance shaped the way nineteenth-century American writers confronted questions of doubt and belief. Poe's detective fiction critiques probabilistic methods; Melville's works struggle to vindicate moral action under conditions of chance; Douglass and other African American authors fight against statistical racism; Thoreau learns to appreciate the play between nature's randomness and order; and Dickinson works faithfully to render poetically the affective experience of chance--surprise. These and other nineteenth-century writers dramatize the inescapable dangers and wonderful possibilities of chance. Their writings even help to navigate extremes that remain with us today--fundamentalism and relativism, determinism and chaos, terrorism and risk-management, the rational confidence of the Enlightenment and the debilitating doubts of modernity."--Jacket. 
<br/><br/><label>ISBN: </label>9780199797578 0199797579 9780199985814 0199985812 
<br/><br/><label>LCCN: </label>2011002599 
<br/><br/><label>Nat. Bib. No.: </label>GBB1B5510  bnb 
<br/><br/><label>Subjects--Chronological Terms: </label><br/>Geschichte 1800-1900. <br/>Geschichte 1800-1900. <br/>1800-1899 
<br/><br/><label>Subjects--Topical Terms: </label><br/>American literature--History and criticism.--19th century<br/>Chance in literature.<br/>Probability in literature.<br/>Skepticism in literature.<br/>Belief and doubt in literature.<br/>Pragmatism in literature.<br/>Literature and science--History--United States--19th century.<br/>Christianity and literature--History--United States--19th century.<br/>American literature.<br/>Belief and doubt in literature.<br/>Chance in literature.<br/>Christianity and literature.<br/>Intellectual life.<br/>Literature and science.<br/>Pragmatism in literature.<br/>Probability in literature.<br/>Skepticism in literature.<br/>Glaube (Motiv)<br/>Literatur.<br/>Naturwissenschaften.<br/>Skeptizismus (Motiv)<br/>Wahrscheinlichkeit (Motiv)<br/>Zweifel (Motiv)<br/>Glaube (Motiv)<br/>Literatur.<br/>Naturwissenschaften.<br/>Skeptizismus (Motiv)<br/>Wahrscheinlichkeit (Motiv)<br/>Zweifel (Motiv)<br/>Amerikansk litteratur--historia--1800-talet.<br/>Skepticism i litteraturen.<br/>Litteratur och vetenskap--historia----1800-talet.<br/>Kristendom och litteratur--historia----1800-talet.
<br/><br/><label>Subjects--Geographic Terms: </label><br/>United States--Intellectual life--19th century.<br/>United States.<br/>USA.<br/>USA.<br/>--intellektuellt liv--historia--1800-talet.
<br/><br/><label>Index Terms--Genre/Form: </label><br/>Criticism, interpretation, etc.<br/>History.
<br/><br/><label>LC Class. No.: </label>PS217.C46  / L44 2012 
<br/><br/><label>Dewey Class. No.: </label>810.9/384