1. Fachbereich Anglistik und Amerikanistik Sommersemester 2010 History of American Literature Prof. Dr. Ralph J. Poole

2. Revolution and the Word: Early Republic Autobiography: Franklin. The Autobiography Philosophy: Thomas Paine. Common Sense: Document: "The Declaration of Independence” Essay: Crèvecoeur. Letters From an American Farmer [Poetry: Philip Freneau. "The Indian Student" (1788)] Sentimental Novel: William Hill Brown. The Power of Sympathy (1789) Susanna Rowson. Charlotte Temple (1791, 1794) Hannah Webster Foster. The Coquette (1797) Gothic Romance: Charles Brockden Brown. Wieland: or, The Transformation (1798) Historical Romance: Washington Irving. "Rip van Winkle”, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (1819) [James Fenimore Cooper. The Pioneers (1823)]

3. Literature and Market in 18 th Century conditions for literary market no novels from colonial to revolutionary era religious, political, and esp. moralistic/didactic texts in colonies

4. Historical Perspective Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, 1740, and Clarissa, 1748 Rousseau: Julie, ou la nouvelle Héloïse, 1761, and Émile ou de l'éducation, 1762 Horace Walpole: The Castle of Otranto, 1764 Goethe: Die Leiden des jungen Werther, 1774

5. Trading Society 1.rural society, scarce population, trading economy 2.books too costly and not profitable as trading goods

6. Literacy and Interest John Adams: “An American who cannot read or write is as rare as a comet or an earthquake.” 1731 Benjamin Franklin’s first circulation library 1800: 376 libraries, rising interest in novels

7. From Religion to Reason Puritans: public/private texts, Bible-based Enlightenment: empirical worldview

8. Roman medieval romance – Roman de la Rose (1230) – epic length – central hero (Arthur) – quest / adventure – fiction and history – proving religious zest – proving true love Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Roman de la Rose (1864)

9. Novel “novels”: oral stories novel cycles: – Boccassio: Decameron (1354) – Chaucer: Canterbury Tales (1386-1400) 17 th cent. debate: romance vs. novel romance – strange plots – distant fictional settings – survived as love stories novel – realist – present – bourgeois – enlightened – educational – moralistic

10. Fictionalized Realism: The Dangers of Reading and the Powers of Sympathy blurred borderline between reality/truth and fiction/illusion the good example as moral message to be followed  authenticity the bad example as warning against itself  NOT to be imitated William Hill Brown, The Power of Sympathy: The Triumph of Nature, Founded in Truth (1789): "To the Young Ladies, of United Columbia, These Volumes, Intended to Represent the Specious Causes, and to Expose the Fatal Consequences of Seduction, To Inspire the Female Mind With a Principle of Self Complacency, and to promote the Economy of Human Life, Are Inscribed, With Esteem and Sincerity, By Their Friend and Humble Servant, The Author. “

11. Contemporary Reactions “The free access which many young people have to romances, novels, and plays, has poisoned the mind and corrupted the morals of many a promising youth; and prevented others from improving their minds in useful knowledge.” (Enoch Hitchcock, Memoirs of the Bloomsgrove Family. In a Series of Letters to a Respectable Citizen, 1793)

12. Contemporary Reactions “I have heard in favor of novels, that there are many good sentiments dispersed in them. I maintain, that good sentiments being found scattered in loose novels, render them more dangerous since, when they are mixed with seducing arguments, it requires more discernment than is to be found in youth to separate the evil from the good; and when a young lady finds principles of religion and virtue inculcated in a book, she is naturally thrown of her guard by taking it for granted that such a work can contain no harm; and of course the evil steals imperceptibly into her heart, while she thinks she is reading sterling morality.” ("Characters and Effects of Modern Novels", The Weekly Magazine, March 19, 1798) Jean-Honoré Fragonard, La Lectrice (1776)

13. The Novel in the Early Republic control of emotions through reason gratification through transgression field for experimentation cultural self-definition Goethe, Die Leiden des jungen Werther

14. Forms and Functions of Early Novel sentimental novel gothic novel/romance historical novel/romance novel vs. romance realism vs. fantasy authorship as profession literature as institution novel as democratic platform

15. Morality and Sentiment virtue (innocence) under siege loss of (fatherly) guidance/authority seduction as succumbing to wrong feelings triggered by wrong persons

16. Americanizing Clarissa mirror of bourgeois morality seduction of female innocence innocence as female virtue  virgin seduction as male agency  villain Clarissa Lovelace

17. From Fiction to “Fact” implied reader? target audience? Charlotte Temple: 1791 England, 1794 America grave marker at Trinity Churchyard, New York

18. The Guardian chain of catastrophes loss of familial ties transfiguration through death father as guardian figure husband as surrogate father female lack of reason broken rules seducer as fake guardian  woman by nature at mercy of emotions  man in control of feelings

19. Female Agency epistolary novel limited potential for female agency lack of father opens space for active daughter too much freedom  symbolic punishment conservative vs. progressive readings

20. Female Agency? conservative vs. progressive readings a) fixed gender roles, patriarchy reconfirmed b) novels as social critique: woman's lack of education female agency: authors and readers are predominantly female

21. Gothic Romance dark – nocturnal – sides of reason resistance to disciplining the mind loss of control fascination for horror perilous affects and unconscious wishes nature and the sublime  Romanticism

22. Charles Brockden Brown: Probing the Mind’s Reliability Wieland; or, the Transformation (1798) Ormond; or, the Secret Witness, ( 1799) Arthur Mervyn; or, Memoirs of the Year 1793 (1799) Edgar Huntly; or, Memoirs of a Sleep- Walker (1799)

23. Wieland; or, the Transformation (1798) gothic romance as critique of the pitfalls of democracy questioning objective perception and reasonable consideration power of emotions: seduction by politics unleashing the republic: lost in unrestricted self- fulfillment sensationalism: serial killer supernatural: bodiless voices sentimental goes gothic: virtuous, yet enlightened heroine turns mad novel (realist) vs. romance (uncanny)

24. Washington Irving first professional writer satire, humor, parody The History of New York, from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, by Diedrich Knickerbocker (1809) parody of America’s upper class culture eccentric, unreliable narrator

25. Birth of the American Short Story “Rip van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (1819) Romanticism: interest in landscape, folklore, past sources: German and English legends, fairy tales

26. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHV_4DKHE0E&feature=related

27. “Rip van Winkle” Rip as no-good nostalgia for pre- revolutionary era representative of a lost generation poetics of native local color as myth American history as material for fantastic stories