Worshiping Walt
Michael Robertson's book is believed to be the first to focus on Walt Whitman's disciples, the fascinating, eclectic group of 19th century men and women who regarded Whitman not simply as a poet but as a religious prophet. Long before Whitman was established in the canon of American poetry, feminists, socialists, spiritual seekers, and supporters of same-sex passion saw him as an enlightened figure who fulfilled their religious, political, and erotic yearnings. To his disciples Whitman was variously an ideal husband, radical lover, socialist icon, or bohemian saint. In this transatlantic group biography, Robertson, a professor of English at the College of New Jersey, explores the highly charged connections between Whitman and his followers, who included Canadian psychiatrist R.M. Bucke, American nature writer John Burroughs, British activist Edward Carpenter and Oscar Wilde. Robertson is the author of the award-winning Stephen Crane, Journalism, and the Making of Modern American Literature and the coeditor of Walt Whitman, Where the Future Becomes Present. A former freelance journalist, he has written for The Village Voice, The New York Times, Columbia Journalism Review, and numerous scholarly journals.