Allegory in America

by Deborah L. Madsen

Allegory in America begins with the perception that allegorical rhetoric has appeared in moments of cultural uncertainty regarding the significance of important myths, texts and icons. Deborah Madsen surveys the history of American allegorical writing from the Puritans through the period of American Romanticism to Postmodernism, and finds that allegory has evolved a double function. In a series of theoretical chapters the rhetorical indeterminacy of allegory is seen to have generated a unique ability to represent more than one set of cultural myths. The mythology of American...