River of dreams : imagining the Mississippi before Mark Twain / Thomas Ruys Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith, Thomas Ruys, 1979-

Series:

Southern literary studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mississippi River--In literature.

Mississippi River.

American literature--19th century--History and criticism.

American literature.

American literature--1783-1850--History and criticism.

United States--Civilization--1783-1865.

United States.

Civilization.

United States--Civilization--19th century.

Physical Description:

x, 232 pages, 10 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press, [2007]

Summary:

This new study examines the Mississippi's role in the imagination of the times and explores its cultural position in antebellum literature, art, thought, and national life. From Thomas Jefferson's vision of the Mississippi to Andrew Jackson and the rowdy river culture of the nineteenth century, Smith charts the river's shifting importance in the making of the nation. He explores the accounts of European travelers including Frances Trollope, Charles Dickens, and William Makepeace Thackeray, whose views were heavily influenced by the world of the steamboat and plantation slavery. He also discusses the importance of visual representations of the Mississippi to reveal ways the river echoed notions of manifest destiny and westward movement. Finally, Smith's epilogue provides a discussion of the Mississippi during the Civil War and an introduction to Mark Twain.

Contents:

Introduction : the American Nile : "ultima thule"

Empire : Jefferson and "the Mississippi we must have"

Frontier : Jackson and the "half-horse, half-alligators"

Travel and tourism : Europeans on "this foul stream"

Moving panoramas : the "useful illusion" of the visual Mississippi

Crime and punishment : "extraordinary metaphysical scamps" in the Mississippi underworld

Epilogue : the Civil War and Mark Twain.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 197-223) and index.

ISBN:

9780807132333

0807132330

OCLC:

72161802