An American Body|Politic re-mapping the transnational A Dartmouth Series in American Studies series editor Donald E. Pease Avalon Foundation Chair of Humanities Founding Director of the Futures of American Studies Institute Dartmouth College The emergence of Transnational American Studies in the wake of the Cold War marks the most signifi cant reconfi guration of American Studies since its inception. The shock waves generated by a newly globalized world order demanded an understanding of America’s embeddedness within global and local processes rather than scholarly reaffi rmations of its splendid isolation. The series Re-Mapping the Transnational seeks to foster the cross- national dialogues needed to sustain the vitality of this emergent fi eld. To advance a truly comparativist understanding of this scholarly endeavor, Dartmouth College Press wel- comes monographs from scholars both inside and outside the United States. For a complete list of books available in this series, see www.upne.com. Anthony Bogues, Empire of Liberty: Power, Desire, and Freedom Bernd Herzogenrath, An American Body|Politic: A Deleuzian Approach Johannes Voelz, Transcendental Resistance: The New Americanists and Emerson’s Challenge bernd herzogenrath AN AMERICAN BODY | POLITIC A Deleuzian Approach dartmouth college press hanover, new hampshire Published by University Press of New England Hanover and London Dartmouth College Press Published by University Press of New England One Court Street, Lebanon NH 03766 www.upne.com © 2010 Trustees of Dartmouth College All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Designed by Katherine B. Kimball Typeset in Sabon by Integrated Publishing Solutions University Press of New England is a member of the Green Press Initiative. The paper used in this book meets their minimum requirement for recycled paper. For permission to reproduce any of the material in this book, contact Permissions, University Press of New England, One Court Street, Lebanon NH 03766; or visit www.upne.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Herzogenrath, Bernd, 1964– An American body|politic : a Deleuzian approach / Bernd Herzogenrath. p. cm. — (Re-mapping the transnational) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-1-58465-932-7 (cloth : alk. paper) — isbn 978-1-58465-933-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Human body (Philosophy) 2. Deleuze, Gilles, 1925– 1995. 3. Human body —Political aspects—United States. 4. Human body—Social aspects—United States. 5. Political science—United States—Philosophy. 6. Human body in literature. 7. Literature and society—United States. 8. Politics and literature—United States. I. Title. b105.b64h47 2010 128'.6 — dc22 2010028333 5 4 3 2 1 To the Memory of Emory Elliott For Claudia For Frank contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi introduction 1 0 body|theory|politic: Body|Theory 20 1 the puritans’ two bodies 54 2 a “‘physics’ of power”: Phase Transitions and Turbulence in the Antinomian Controversy 92 3 cotton mather: The Angel and the Animalcula 116 4 “i am the poet of little things”: Walt Whitman and Minor Poetics|Politics 171 5 a physical theory of heredity|heresy: The Education of Henry Adams 208 6 “a sonorous people”: Techno|Music and the Joyful Body|Politic 233 conclusion 253 Notes 259 Bibliography 285 Index 313 illustrations Frontispiece of Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan [1651] 5 Benjamin Franklin, “join, or die” [1754] 8 Benjamin Franklin, Fugio coin [1787] 9 Paul Revere’s frontispiece to William Billings, The New England Psalm Singer [1770] 9 Marquis de Barbi-Marbois, Allegory of the American Union [1784] 12 “The Inward Man,” from Andreas Vesalius, De Humani Corporis Fabrica [1541] 80 Reed Brockway Bontecou, “Field Day” [1865] 200 Wounded Civil War soldier in heroic pose 201