Charlotte Temple and the Early American Novel English 441 Roggenkamp

The Novel Genre not really “invented” until mid 18 th century Samuel Richardson’s Pamela (1740) considered by many as first novel Before then: novelistic subjects in crime stories, chapbooks, ballads, newspapers Novel—nouvelle—new, meaning new genre, but also contemporary topics

The Novel in America American novels slow to emerge Puritan roots of American literature— fictionalizing (“lying”) considered duplicitous Distrustful of anything that isn’t specifically didactic or moralistic Novel reading leads to depravity and vice— novel reading today, licentious riot and senseless revolution tomorrow! Especially corrupting to young women and lower classes—give false ideas about life

Novels Rot Your Soul Rev. Samuel Miller: “[N]o one was ever an extensive and especially an habitual reader of novels... Without suffering both intellectual and moral injury, and of course incurring a dimunition of happiness” (1803).

Novels Rot Your Brain Growth of novel in America also delayed by force of Enlightenment—novels aren’t RATIONAL enough Thomas Jefferson: “A great obstacle to good education is the inordinate passion prevalent for novels.... When this poison infects the mind, it destroys its tone and revolts it against wholesome reading. Reason and fact, plain and unadorned, are rejected.... The result is a bloated imagination, sickly judgment, and disgust towards all the real business of life.”

Novels=Social Disruption Other reasons why novel rejected in both America and England: Genre deliberately aimed not at gentry but at the middle classes Replace authority of intellectual elite—and authority of the sermon Gender issues—female readers without male guidance hanging over their shoulders

The Novel Comes to America Benjamin Franklin prints first novel colonies in 1744—Richardson’s Pamela But no indigenous novels until after Revolutionary War Before then—novels imported or “pirated” from Britain (no federal copyright law until 1790; international law until 1891) TRANSATLANTIC reading culture William Hill Brown, The Power of Sympathy (1789), arguably first American-authored novel

1790s America Revolutionary War ends 1783 Slow stabilization process—what will this democracy look like? Mob action vs. ideal democracy—Shays Rebellion 1786, Whiskey Rebellion 1794 Turmoil of French Revolution ( ) Slave insurrections Late 18 th century economic growth—but fear that greed erodes moral values

1790s America America “resembled an adolescent torn between alternatives, fondly recalling, yet rebuking, her past; discovering, yet denying, her dangerous propensities; looking hopefully but anxiously toward the future” (Bill Christopherson). Emerging / competing models of human expression: reason and rationality versus emotion and “sensibility” (reliance on feelings as guide to truth, as opposed to reliance on reason—emotional connection between people)

Susanna Rowson & Charlotte Temple Rowson British—but more popular in America than in home country— blockbuster hit in U. S. Charlotte Temple published in America in 1794