“William Huntting Howell’s book of literary and cultural criticism Against Self-Reliance begins with Emerson’s maxim — which Howell finds, ironically, scrawled onto a bathroom wall. Using this small bit of imitative graffiti as a launching point, Howell sets about amending the popular story of the United States of America as the force that indelibly gave the individual, the sacred self, a position of fundamental prominence.”
“Howell’s book seems a timely intervention in studies of American literary history, and it’s worth revisiting the backstory of why. In our current moment, classical liberalism — the Enlightenment-era political philosophy underpinning the championship of individuals, their liberty, and their rights — is making something of a comeback in the critical lexicon of US literary scholars after a decade or more of hibernation.”