| dc.description.abstract | In this project, I track the development of Margaret Fuller’s rhetoric of transcendental
nationalism within the context of the Roman revolution in 1848. My central purpose is to situate
the legacy of Margaret Fuller in the field of rhetorical theory and criticism, as well as to position
her dispatches from Italy as the culmination of her work—not an eclipse of her previous
writings, but a vital part of any understanding of the woman, the writer, the Transcendentalist,
the feminist, the nationalist, the revolutionary that was Margaret Fuller. Furthermore, I argue that
Fuller’s dispatches offer a model for a distinctly transcendental form of nationalism through her
combined skills, such as critiquing large networks of power, her classical knowledge and
familiarity with the language of myth, her growing narrative form and structure, her love of
German-Romantic philosophy and literature, her literary nationalist voice, and her deeply-rooted
belief in the collective power of the Italian people.
Although arriving as a travel-writer abroad, Fuller was also a foreign correspondent for the
New-York Tribune with the task of reporting back on any and all happenings. Europe, at the time,
was in a tumultuous state, which would soon erupt in open insurrection and full-blown
revolution. And Fuller was right in the middle of it. After travelling through England and France,
she arrived in Italy and quickly became a convert to the Italian nationalist cause. Although her
dispatches begin with descriptions of her encounters with art, nature and culture, once in Italy
Fuller adopts a more aggressive rhetorical voice that quickly evolves into a sophisticated rhetoric
of transcendental nationalism. This dissertation will explore how Fuller transformed her
Transcendental belief in the power of individualism and the art of self-culture into a radical,
revolutionary, nationalist rhetorical style that called a nation together based on common origin,
character, spirit, and destiny in an effort to pursue a new Democratic Order. This dissertation
thus traces the works of Margaret Fuller beginning with her major publications in America,
continuing through her dispatches from Europe (1846-1850), and ending with a distinct
rhetorical form and style, which I call the rhetoric of transcendental nationalism. | en |
