Classical Idols and the Early American Gothic

2020 ◽  
pp. 157-190
Author(s):  
James Uden
Keyword(s):  
Short Fiction ◽  
American Culture ◽  
Charles Brockden Brown ◽  
Classical Literature ◽  
American Gothic ◽  
Early American ◽  
European Tradition ◽  
The Status ◽  
New Nation

The fifth chapter of the book moves across the Atlantic to consider the influential author of the early American Gothic, Charles Brockden Brown. Although scholars have examined classical themes in certain branches of his published work, this chapter gives the first comprehensive vision of classicism in Brown, taking into account his novels, short fiction, and periodical writing. Overall, his texts communicate a powerful skepticism about the status and value of antiquity in the new nation, although Brown himself is not reticent about demonstrating his own classical erudition. The chapter centers around readings of two of Brown’s novels: Wieland; or The Transformation (1798), with its sinister vision of superstitious reverence for the Roman orator Cicero, and Ormond (1799), which encourages readers to question the conservative, classicizing vision of American culture voiced by the novel’s own narrator, Sophia. Brown’s novels illustrate well what John C. Shields has called the “acceptance and denial” pattern of American classicism, in which writers assert their own status and learning through the use of classical literature and ideas, and yet simultaneously call for a progressive departure from desiccated European tradition. The Gothic is the perfect genre for capturing that contradiction, since it expresses in sinister terms the lingering power of history over contemporary minds.

scholarly journals Gothic Monstrosity: Charles Brockden Brown’s Edgar Huntly and the Trope of the Bestial Indian

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Yao
Keyword(s):  
Native Americans ◽  
American Indians ◽  
American History ◽  
Charles Brockden Brown ◽  
Early American History ◽  
American Gothic ◽  
Early American ◽  
Edgar Huntly

This chapter reads the development and sedimentation of the savage image of American Indians in early American history through the American gothic’s monstrous tropes, concluding with 1799 novel Edgar Huntly by Charles Brockden Brown, acclaimed as the pioneer of American gothic. If for Brown the American equivalent to Gothic castles are the perils of the western wilderness, Native Americans are the monstrous equivalent of that setting’s mythical chimera. Both inhuman and antagonistic Other, for Brown the Indian, at once integral and liminal, is a quintessential element of the American gothic genre.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. xxiv-4
Author(s):  
Philip Barnard ◽  
Hilary Emmett ◽  
Stephen Shapiro
Keyword(s):  
Short Fiction ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Charles Brockden Brown ◽  
Early American Republic ◽  
American Novel ◽  
Early American ◽  
Romantic Era ◽  
History Of ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
Late Twentieth Century

The Oxford Handbook of Charles Brockden Brown provides an up-to-date survey of the life of and full range of writings by Charles Brockden Brown (1771–1810), a key writer of the Atlantic revolutionary age and the early American republic. Through the late twentieth century, Brown was best known as an important author of political romances in the Gothic mode that were widely influential in the Romantic era and has generated large amounts of scholarship as a crucial figure in the history of the American novel. More recent work recognizes him likewise as an influential editor, historian, and writer in other genres such as poetry, short fiction, and essays and as a figure whose work resonated throughout the Atlantic world of the revolutionary age. The Oxford Handbook’s thirty-five chapters build on the research of the most recent scholarly generation to introduce readers to Brown and explore his wide-ranging work.

American Gothic Culture

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Faflak
Keyword(s):  
American Culture ◽  
First Century ◽  
Serial Killers ◽  
Dark Side ◽  
Eighteenth Century Literature ◽  
Repressed Memories ◽  
American Gothic ◽  
Film And Television ◽  
Frontier Narratives ◽  
Global Events

This Companion surveys the traditions and conventions of the dark side of American culture - its repressed memories, its anxieties and panics, its fears and horrors, its obsessions and paranoias. Featuring new critical essays by established and emerging academics from a range of national backgrounds, this collection offers new discussions and analyses of canonical and lesser-known literary and other works. Its scope ranges from the earliest manifestations of American Gothic traditions in frontier narratives and colonial myths, to its recent responses to contemporary global events. Moving from analyses of eighteenth-century literature to twenty-first century video games, and touching upon visual art, film, and television, serial killers, monsters, education and cityscapes, this Companion aims to demonstrate the centrality of the gothic to American culture writ large through four key sections: Gothic Histories, Gothic Identities; Gothic Genres, Gothic Sites; Gothic Media; and American Creatures.

History Has Begun

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Maçães
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Cold War ◽  
American Culture ◽  
Static Model ◽  
Early American Republic ◽  
Us History ◽  
New Model ◽  
Early American ◽  
Slow Decline ◽  
The Us

Popular consensus says that the US rose over two centuries to Cold War victory and world domination, and is now in slow decline. But is this right? History's great civilizations have always lasted much longer, and for all its colossal power, American culture was overshadowed by Europe until recently. What if this isn't the end? This book offers a compelling vision of America's future, both fascinating and unnerving. From the early American Republic, it takes us to the turbulent present, when, it argues, America is finally forging its own path. We can see the birth pangs of this new civilization in today's debates on guns, religion, foreign policy, and the significance of Trump. Should the coronavirus pandemic be regarded as an opportunity to build a new kind of society? What will its values be, and what will this new America look like? The book traces the long arc of US history to argue that in contrast to those who see the US on the cusp of decline, it may well be simply shifting to a new model, one equally powerful but no longer liberal. Consequently, it is no longer enough to analyze America's current trajectory through the simple prism of decline vs. progress, which assumes a static model—America as liberal leviathan. Rather, the book argues that America may be casting off the liberalism that has defined the country since its founding for a new model, one more appropriate to succeeding in a transformed world.

scholarly journals The image of the hero-entrepreneur in Russian classical literature as a pledge of socially responsible principles of modern Russian entrepreneurship

2021 ◽  
pp. 349-356
Author(s):  
Н.А. Чистякова
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Analysis ◽  
Classical Literature ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
Dramatic Works ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
The Status ◽  
Public Consciousness ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Xix Century

В последнее десятилетие резко изменилось отношение российской общественности к предпринимательству с негативного на нейтральное и даже позитивное. Для подтверждения предположения об изменении эмоционального статуса понятия «предпринимательство» автором был произведен соцопрос. Поскольку предположение об изменении статуса понятия «предпринимательство» подтвердилось, автор посредством историко-культурного анализа постарался объяснить причину изменения стереотипа. Акцент был сделан на роль произведений русской классической литературы в формировании общественного сознания. Кроме того, автор конкретизировал отраженный в классической литературе идеал русского предпринимателя. Конкретно, в статье проанализирован образ предпринимателя в русской классической литературе XIX века: разобраны литературные типы работников финансовой сферы, найдены положительные примеры, выявлены социально ответственные принципы подхода к делу. Для обеспечения большей объективности для анализа привлечены как эпические, так и драматические произведения. Автор выясняет, как в русской классической литературе отражаются проблемы личности предпринимателя, актуальные в настоящее время. В статье произведен сравнительный анализ «кодексов чести» предпринимателя – источников XIX и XXI века, – в которых раскрывается тема чести русского финансиста, его морального облика. В исследовании утверждается преемственность традиций в сфере предпринимательства, сформированных основной частью населения страны, жившего по законам Российской Империи, кроме того, обосновывается содержательная связь художественных и документальных источников и доказывается необходимость создания образа современного коммерсанта на основе принципов, отраженных в отечественной классике. In the last decade, the attitude of the Russian public towards entrepreneurship has changed dramatically from negative to neutral and even positive. To confirm the assumption about the change in the emotional status of the concept of «entrepreneurship», the author conducted a social survey. Since the assumption about the change in the status of the concept of «entrepreneurship» was confirmed, the author tried to explain the reason for the change in the stereotype through historical and cultural analysis. The emphasis was placed on the role of works of Russian classical literature in the formation of public consciousness. In addition, the author concretized the ideal of the Russian entrepreneur reflected in the classical literature. Specifically, the article analyzes the image of the entrepreneur in the Russian classical literature of the XIX century: the literary types of financial workers are analyzed, positive examples are found, and socially responsible principles of the approach to business are identified. To ensure greater objectivity, both epic and dramatic works are used for analysis. The author finds out how the Russian classical literature reflects the problems of the entrepreneur's personality that are currently relevant. The article presents a comparative analysis of the «codes of honor» of the entrepreneur-sources of the XIX and XXI centuries-which reveal the theme of the honor of the Russian financier, his moral image. The study confirms the continuity of traditions in the field of entrepreneurship, formed by the main part of the country's population, who lived according to the laws of the Russian Empire, in addition, substantiates the meaningful connection of artistic and documentary sources and proves the need to create an image of a modern merchant based on the principles reflected in the Russian classics.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Elke D’hoker ◽  
Chris Mourant
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Short Fiction ◽  
Literary Form ◽  
Periodical Studies ◽  
The Status ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Material Turn ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Impact

This chapter provides an overview of the methodological and historical frames that inform the book’s analysis of the manifold interactions between the short story and British magazine culture, from 1880 to 1950. It discusses the material turn in short fiction studies which has led to a better understanding of the impact of publication contexts on the production, reception and development of the short story. This holds true in particular for the role magazines played in the emergence of the modern short story as a specific and successful literary form in the final decades of the nineteenth century. The chapter also presents an overview of recent developments in periodical studies, providing useful methodological tools for analysing the status, presentation and function of a particular genre within the heterogeneous, dialogic and time-bound format of the periodical.

Culture Mavens: Feeling at Home in America

Jews at Home ◽  
2010 ◽  
pp. 287-292
Author(s):  
Jenna Weissman Joselit
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Culture ◽  
American Culture ◽  
American Jews ◽  
American Jewry ◽  
Jewish Experience ◽  
The World ◽  
The Status ◽  
Museum Exhibitions ◽  
Feeling At Home ◽  
At Home

This chapter reviews recent museum exhibitions and guides to cultural Jewishness to pose the question of whether a new emotional concept of Jews at home is apparent in American culture. Considering the status of American Jewry as the largest diaspora population in the world, one must wonder if it constitutes a decided rupture with the past, an entirely new calibration of matters Jewish, or simply an expression of tradition in a new register. It laments the difficulty of studying the American Jewry, especially when compared with the Jewish populations in other countries — to say nothing of contemporary Israeli society. The American Jews' fluid and simultaneous embrace of consumer culture and liturgical tradition, of ‘kosher cellphones’ and gay weddings, of Chinese food and ‘heirloom talitot’ (prayer shawls) that embed a photograph of a beloved ancestor in their folds — makes for a culture that defies easy description. Yet the chapter surmises that there is something about the modern American Jewish experience circa 2009 that seems downright revolutionary rather than evolutionary.

After the Revolution: Profiles of Early American Culture

1980 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 554
Author(s):  
S. W. Jackman ◽  
Joseph J. Ellis
Keyword(s):  
American Culture ◽  
Early American ◽  
The Revolution
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