Whitman Walt - Walt Whitmans America : a cultural biography

Acclaim for DAVID S. REYNOLDSs

WALT WHITMANS AMERICA

Fascinating. For anyone who wants to learn more about the manners and mores of a century that ineluctably shaped our own, this book is essential reading.

San Francisco Examiner

It opens many windows on Whitmans makeup. More than his predecessors, Reynolds places Whitman in the complex context of his times.

The New York Times

Reynoldss extraordinarily detailed exhumation of the Whitman experience is utterly fascinating. A powerful incentive to turn again to Whitmans work itself.

Detroit Free Press

Superbly researched and systematic. It greatly enriches our reading of Whitman.

New York Review of Books

An astounding feat of good scholarly writing.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Absorbing and minutely researched. It will not be superseded for years to come.

Seattle Times Post-Intelligencer

The great merit of Reynoldss exceptionally informed and aptly titled book is that it examines the sources of Whitmans revolution.

Los Angeles Times

Once you have followed Reynolds around the nineteenth-century streets, you see Whitman with a sudden new clarity.

The New Yorker

A new and coherent portrait vibrant and fully human. It sheds a tremendous amount of light on the poems. Whitman has inspired a lot of first rate books. This may be the best.

Washington Times

A godsend. No other work explains Whitmans cultural background or investigates as many facets of the poets times as well as this one does.

Virginian-Pilot and Ledger-Star

Terrific. Reynolds gives us a clearer and more balanced picture of our famous bard than all previous biographers.

St. Petersburg Times

Exemplary scholarship, not just for our time, but for all times. A superb scholarly resource, it also features a compelling narrative.

Kirkus Reviews

A major contribution to American cultural history, deep in its research, exact in its prose, and compelling in its interpretations.

Sean Wilentz, Princeton University

Indispensable. An inspired synthesis of biographical and historical data, a truly Whitman-sized contribution to the study of American literature.

Choice

A fascinating, important, necessary book.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

It throws open window after window onto the poets world.

Raleigh News & Observer

Destined to become a classic of American cultural and historical study.

Mason I. Lowance, Jr., University of Massachusetts

A major contribution to our understanding of the poetry Reynolds doesnt just describe Whitmans America; vividly he evokes the man himself.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

DAVID S. REYNOLDS

WALT WHITMANS AMERICA

David S. Reynolds is Distinguished Professor of American Literature and American Studies at Baruch College and the Graduate School of the City University of New York. Born and raised in Rhode Island, he received his B.A. from Amherst College and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. He has previously taught at Rutgers University, New York University, Barnard College, and Northwestern University. He is the author of the monumental Beneath the American Renaissance: The Subversive Imagination in the Age of Emerson and Melville, winner of the Christian Gauss Award. His other publications include Faith in Fiction: The Emergence of Religious Literature in America; George Lippard; and George Lippard, Prophet of Protest: Writings of an American Radical, 18221854 (edited anthology). He is the editor of George Lippards novel The Quaker City; or, The Monks of Monk Hall and the author of numerous articles and reviews in the field of American literature and culture, including Of Me I Sing: Whitman in His Time (New York Times Book Review).

ALSO BY DAVID S. REYNOLDS

Beneath the American Renaissance:
The Subversive Imagination in the Age of Emerson and Melville

Faith in Fiction:
The Emergence of Religious Literature in America

George Lippard

George Lippard, Prophet of Protest:
Writings of an American Radical, 18221854 (editor)

George Lippards The Quaker City; or,
The Monks of Monk Hall (editor)

FIRST VINTAGE BOOKS EDITION, MARCH 1996

Copyright 1995 by David S. Reynolds

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Originally published in hardcover by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, in 1995.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the Knopf edition as follows:
Reynolds, David S.
Walt Whitmans America : a cultural biography / by David S. Reynolds,
p. cm.
1. Whitman, Walt, 18191892.
2. Whitman, Walt, 18191892Contemporary United States.
3. United StatesCivilization19th century.
4. Poets, American19th centuryBiography. I. Title.
PS3231.R48 1995
811.3dc2o
[B] 94-12841
eISBN: 978-0-307-76192-7

v3.1

To my wife, Suzanne, and our daughter, Aline,
with love and thanks

A scholar inevitably owes a great debt to research libraries. I especially thank the professional, helpful staffs at the Library of Congress, the American Antiquarian Society, the New York Public Library, the New-York Historical Society, the Museum of the City of New York, the Long Island Historical Society, the Smithtown Historical Society, Hofstra University Library, the Walt Whitman Birthplace Association, the Walt Whitman Association in Camden, and the libraries of the City University of New York.

A yearlong fellowship from the National Endowment of the Humanities supported part of the work on this project, as did a series of small research grants from Baruch College and the City University of New York.

Among the colleagues who helped me in various ways are Ed Folsom, Jerome Loving, Gay Wilson Allen, Sean Wilentz, and Michael Black. The latters scrupulous comments on my manuscript were of great use. P. Marc Bousquet, my research assistant in one phase of this project, was particularly useful in gathering data on the Whitmans in early Brooklyn and on certain aspects of Americas musical and theatrical culture. Special thanks go to Katherine Molinoff, who loaned me useful materials about Whitmans teaching days. I also thank Nancy Swertfager, David Swertfager, and James Bitses, who helped me on the Southold story. My editor at Knopf, Jane Garrett, has been encouraging from start to finish. Like others working on Whitman, I am deeply indebted to the Whitman scholars who have preceded me. In particular, the work of Gay Wilson Allen and Roger Asselineau remain invaluable resources.

I began this book in Camden, New Jersey, Whitmans last home and resting place, and finished it in Old Westbury, Long Island, not far from the poets birthplace. All the while, I have had the loving support and encouragement of my wife, Suzanne Nalbantian, who was also working on a book at the time. My appreciation to her is unbounded. Our little daughter, Aline, couldnt wait till this book was done, but while it was in process she cheerfully tolerated my long hours of research and writing.