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“Put God in Your Debt”: Emerson's Economy of Expenditure

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2020

Richard A. Grusin
Richard A. Grusin*
Affiliation:
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta
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Abstract

Emerson's economic thought has most often been interpreted from the perspective of a Marxist analysis of trade and production. Such a perspective fails to distinguish between the different levels of Emerson's thinking—spiritual, commercial, and natural. Following the logic of symbolic exchange employed as a critique of Marxism by Mauss, Bataille, Baudrillard, and others, this essay argues that Emerson's economy of expenditure not only contradicts the basic premises of Marxist doctrine but also alters our understanding of such fundamental Emersonian concepts as self-reliance and compensation.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 103 , Issue 1 , January 1988 , pp. 35 - 44
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1988

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