TY  - BOOK
AU  - Lee,Maurice S.
TI  - Uncertain chances: science, skepticism, and belief in nineteenth-century American literature 
SN  - 9780199797578
AV  - PS217.C46 L44 2012
U1  - 810.9/384 22
PY  - 2012///
CY  - New York
PB  - Oxford University Press
KW  - American literature
KW  - 19th century
KW  - History and criticism
KW  - Chance in literature
KW  - Probability in literature
KW  - Skepticism in literature
KW  - Belief and doubt in literature
KW  - Pragmatism in literature
KW  - Literature and science
KW  - United States
KW  - History
KW  - Christianity and literature
KW  - fast
KW  - Intellectual life
KW  - Glaube (Motiv)
KW  - gnd
KW  - Literatur
KW  - Naturwissenschaften
KW  - Skeptizismus (Motiv)
KW  - Wahrscheinlichkeit (Motiv)
KW  - Zweifel (Motiv)
KW  - swd
KW  - Amerikansk litteratur
KW  - historia
KW  - 1800-talet
KW  - sao
KW  - Skepticism i litteraturen
KW  - Litteratur och vetenskap
KW  - Kristendom och litteratur
KW  - USA
KW  - intellektuellt liv
KW  - Criticism, interpretation, etc
N1  - Includes bibliographical references and index; 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
N2  - "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
UR  - http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&doc_number=024562091&line_number=0001&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA
UR  - http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&local_base=BVB01&doc_number=024562091&line_number=0001&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA
UR  - http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&local_base=BVB01&doc_number=024562091&line_number=0002&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA
ER  -