The historicism of Charles Brockden Brown : radical history and the early republic / Mark L. Kamrath.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kamrath, Mark.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Brown, Charles Brockden, 1771-1810--Criticism and interpretation.

Brown, Charles Brockden.

Brown, Charles Brockden, 1771-1810--Knowledge--History.

Brown, Charles Brockden, 1771-1810--Knowledge--United States.

History in literature.

Historicism in literature.

Literature and history--United States--History--19th century.

Literature and history.

United States--In literature.

United States.

United States--History--Philosophy.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (353 p.)

Place of Publication:

Kent, Ohio : Kent State University Press, c2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

A new perspective on the cultural politics of Charles Brockden Brown The novels of Charles Brockden Brown, the most accomplished literary figure in early America, redefined the gothic genre and helped shape some of Americas greatest writers, including Herman Melville, Edgar Allan Poe, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. However, little has been said about the latter years of Browns career. While his early novels are celebrated for their innovative and experimental style, Browns later historical narratives are often dismissed as uninteresting, and Brown himself has been accused of having become a stodgy conservative. Through a re-examination of these neglected historical writings, Mark L. Kamrath takes a fresh look at Browns later career and his role in the cultural politics of the early national period. This interdisciplinary study uses transatlantic historical contexts and recent narrative discourse to unveil Browns philosophic inquires into the filiopietistic tradition of historiography and increasingly imperialistic notion of American exceptionalism. It recovers a forgotten debateand radical positionabout the nature of historical truth and representation and opens up for contemporary discussion what it means to write about the past.

Contents:

Part 1. Remembering the past: European and colonial traditions; "Domestic history" and the Republican novel

Part 2. Historiography and the "art of the historian": Historical representation in the Monthly magazine and American review and the Literary magazine and American register; The historical sketches-and "a government, ecclesiastical and civil"; Empire and the "annals of Europe"

Part 3. The politics of history: American exceptionalism and the "annals of America"; constitutional limits-and "liberalism".

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-283-21506-3

9786613215062

1-61277-549-7

OCLC:

746880433