Description
Book SynopsisCharles Brockden Brown's Revolution and the Birth of American Gothic illuminates the social and political influences on the nation's first professional novelist and reveals the surprising origins of one of American literature's most popular and enduring genres.
Trade Review"This is the most interesting book that I have read on Charles Brockden Brown. It has a lively style, a nice touch, and an engaging perspective on the man and his work." * Thomas P. Slaughter, author of
The Natures of John and William Bartram *
"This excellent biography of unique and challenging American writer provides a solid historical analysis of the American Revolution and the development of Brown's 'Gothic' tales." *
Choice *
Table of ContentsIntroduction
Prologue: Philadelphia, Summer 1777-Summer 1778: "the Horrors of the night"
PART I: FACTS AND FICTIONS, 1650-1798
Chapter 1: Children of the Light, 1650s-1777
Chapter 2: From Terror to Terror to Terror, 1777-1793
Chapter 3: Revolutionary Reverberations, 1793-1798
Interlude: Philadelphia, 1795-1799: "renderings in the bowels of nations"
PART II: FICTIONS AND FACTS, 1798-1800
Chapter 4: Sins of Fathers
Chapter 5: The Anti-Godwin
Chapter 6: The Return of the Present and Past
PART III: A LIE, 1800-1804
Conclusion: Charles Brown, American
Epilogue: Brockden Brown and the American Gothic Tradition
Notes
Index
Acknowledgments
