American Transcendentalits

I've been interested in these Transcendentalist cats for years-- Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, Walcott, etc.

The spiritual forefathers/mothers to the Beat Generation.

If you replace the word Transcendalists in this quote (Perry Miller, intro the "The American Transcendentalists") with "ALfA-ists", it works. (At least for me it does.)

"We may also see the Transcendentalists as the first outcry of the heart against the materialistsic pressures of a business civilization. Protestant to the core, they turn their protest against what is customarily called the 'Protestant Ethic': they refuse to labour in a proper calling, conscientiously cultivate the arts of leisure, and strive to avoid making money."


Didn't we once try to come up with a name for our larger artistic/philosopical movement, as represented in this blog and elsewhere? None were satisfactory, though.

The Enthusiasts? Prairie Organicism? Neo-neoism?