Monday, February 21, 2005
- DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA: THE PRIVATE AND THE PUBLIC
Lecturer: Eduard van de Bilt
Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin. Harvard Library Classics, 1853. Edited by Kenneth S. Lynne, 1962
(PART II) Aspects of the book related to the issue of the private & the public. Jaime: Ophelia is an interesting character, because she sums up what Northerners feel: they are very pro-equality in public, but still prejudiced in private. Carla: Ophelia is very much on her own. She is un-married, which was unusual at the time. She voices her opinions independently -- she does not reflect the voice of the church or of husbands.
Prof. van de Bilt: the way the issue of family life is presented, it looks as if Stowe conceives society as one large family. If family life were to break down, you could expect (according to Stowe) the public domain to be in trouble as well. Does the author go too far in that direction?
There are no "institutional" suggestions. To turn society into one large family: that is as far as Stowe is willing to go in terms of improving society. There are no other "institutional" proposals in Oncle Tom's Cabin. But there's a problem: the public sphere is not a mere extension of the private sphere. The two are in essence distinct from each other. Carla: religion, according to Stowe, is the way to unite the private and the public spheres.
Final comment: even if the book does not bring everything together, it offers --in odd ways-- many ideas about the relationship between the private and the public. In that respect, it provides the basic material of the course.
Lecturer: Eduard van de Bilt
Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin. Harvard Library Classics, 1853. Edited by Kenneth S. Lynne, 1962
(PART II) Aspects of the book related to the issue of the private & the public. Jaime: Ophelia is an interesting character, because she sums up what Northerners feel: they are very pro-equality in public, but still prejudiced in private. Carla: Ophelia is very much on her own. She is un-married, which was unusual at the time. She voices her opinions independently -- she does not reflect the voice of the church or of husbands.
Prof. van de Bilt: the way the issue of family life is presented, it looks as if Stowe conceives society as one large family. If family life were to break down, you could expect (according to Stowe) the public domain to be in trouble as well. Does the author go too far in that direction?
There are no "institutional" suggestions. To turn society into one large family: that is as far as Stowe is willing to go in terms of improving society. There are no other "institutional" proposals in Oncle Tom's Cabin. But there's a problem: the public sphere is not a mere extension of the private sphere. The two are in essence distinct from each other. Carla: religion, according to Stowe, is the way to unite the private and the public spheres.
Final comment: even if the book does not bring everything together, it offers --in odd ways-- many ideas about the relationship between the private and the public. In that respect, it provides the basic material of the course.
# posted by Agustin @ 4:33 PM 
