Transcendentalism and Sublime (Post)Nature in American Literature: From Self-Discovery to Self-Destruction

Using the philosophy of Transcendentalism and the aesthetics of the sublime as comparative elements, this master thesis provides a diachronical analysis of a delimited corpus of (Native) American literature, which discusses representations of the (post)natural world and the self, aimed at drawing ecocritical conclusions. The author considers literary works from various genres—travelogues, essays, memoirs, novels, poems and non-fiction works—that were written by authors coming from significantly different periods.