Correspondence and American Literature, 1770–1865Elizabeth Hewitt uncovers the centrality of letter-writing to antebellum American literature. She argues that many canonical American authors turned to the epistolary form as an idealised genre through which to consider the challenges of American democracy before the Civil War. The letter was the vital technology of social intercourse in the nineteenth century and was adopted as an exemplary genre in which authors from Crevecoeur and Adams through Jefferson, to Emerson, Melville, Dickinson and Whitman, could theorise the social and political themes that were so crucial to their respective literary projects. They interrogated the political possibilities of social intercourse through the practice and analysis of correspondence. Hewitt argues that although correspondence is generally only conceived as a biographical archive, it must instead be understood as a significant genre through which these early authors made sense of social and political relations in the nation. |
What people are saying - Write a review
We haven't found any reviews in the usual places.
Contents
| 1 | |
1 National letters | 16 |
2 Emerson and Fullers phenomenal letters | 52 |
3 Melvilles dead letters | 83 |
4 Jacobss letters from nowhere | 111 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
abolitionist African American Amy Post appeal argues articulates attempt authority Bartleby Brent Cambridge citizens Clara Clara Howard Colden commitment communication conversation correspondence critique dead letters declares democracy democratic depiction describes Emerson Emily Dickinson emphasizes Encantadas epistolary form epistolary mode epistolary novels epistolary writing essay example familiar letter Federalist Flint Franklin freedom friendship Fuller Fuller’s GĻunderode genre Harriet Jacobs Harvard University Hawthorne Hawthorne’s Herman Melville Hunilla’s ideal identity Incidents individual insists Jacobs Jacobs’s Jane Jane Talbot letter-writing likewise literary literature Margaret Fuller Melville Melville’s metaphor narrative narrator Nathaniel Hawthorne national post necessarily ofEmily offers ofletters ofthe paradoxical perfect persons Pierre Pierre’s poem poet poet’s poetic political post office postal system precisely reader reciprocity refuses relations relationship rhetoric Scarlet Letter slave slavery social intercourse story suggests sympathy telegraph textual theory Thomas transcendental truth tyranny ultimately understand union ventriloquism Whitman York
Bibliographic information
| Title | Correspondence and American Literature, 1770–1865 Volume 146 of Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture |
| Author | Elizabeth Hewitt |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press, 2004 |
| ISBN | 1139456601, 9781139456609 |
| Subjects | › › Literary Criticism / American / General Literary Criticism / Renaissance |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |