Revolution and the Word : The Rise of the Novel in America

Offering a unique perspective on the origins of American fiction, Cathy N. Davidson focuses not only on the early novels themselves but also on the people who produced, sold, and read them. She demonstrates how, in the aftermath of the American Revolution, the novel found a special place among some of the least privileged citizens of the new republic. Though now mostly forgotten, these early American novels enabled those who bought and read them--especially women and the lower classes--to move into the higher levels of literacy required by a democracy. Combining rigorous historical methods with contemporary critical theory, Davidson brilliantly reconstructs the complex interplay of politics, ideology, economics, and other social forces that governed the writing, publishing, distribution, and comprehension of these early novels. She assesses the precarious business of the printer, the hardships endured by the traveling book peddler, the shortcomings of early American schools, and the lost lives of such women as Tabitha Tenney and diarist Patty Rogers. By exploring how Americans lived during the Constitutional era, Davidson presents the genesis of American literature in its fullest possible context. Revolution and the Word is the classic study of the co-emergence of the U.S. nation and the new literary genre of the novel. The book remains the foundational study of reading, writing, and publishing in the new republic and provides a unique glimpse of the culture of early America. By looking at everything from publishers' account books to marginalia scrawled in eighteenth-century books to the novels themselves, Revolution and the Word provides an engaging social history of early American readership that is also informed by the most insightful aspects of literary theory. With a backward glance at the culture wars and prognostications for what lies ahead, the comprehensive introduction of this expanded edition reframes Revolution and the Word for a new generation of scholars. It revisits topics of dissent in the early national period, the status of the Constitution as a document designed to quell the still-burning passions of the American Revolution, and the role played by the novel in publicizing and articulating complex desires not addressed at the Constitutional Convention. Cathy N. Davidson provides readers with a survey and critique of the controversial and productive thought in cultural, social, and political theory as it has evolved during the last twenty years. This astute and learned assessment of recent developments in literary and historical scholarship, colonial and postcolonial studies, race theory, gender and sexuality theory, class studies, cultural studies, and history of the book will make Revolution and the Word as urgent for this generation as it was for its original readers in 1986 Contents......Page 18 Introduction to the Expanded Edition......Page 22 PART ONE......Page 76 1 Introduction: Toward a History of Texts......Page 78 2 The Book in the New Republic......Page 92 3 Ideology and Genre......Page 120 4 Literacy, Education, and the Reader......Page 140 PART TWO......Page 170 5 Commodity and Communication: The First American Novel......Page 172 6 Privileging the Feme Covert: The Sociology of Sentimental Fiction......Page 204 7 The Picaresque and the Margins of Political Discourse......Page 252 8 Early American Gothic: The Limits of Individualism......Page 325 9 Afterword: Texts as Histories......Page 375 Notes......Page 386 A......Page 462 B......Page 463 C......Page 464 D......Page 465 F......Page 466 H......Page 467 J......Page 468 M......Page 469 N......Page 470 P......Page 472 R......Page 473 S......Page 474 V......Page 475 W......Page 476 Z......Page 477 1. Introduction : Toward A History Of Texts -- 2. The Book In The New Republic -- 3. Ideology And Genre -- 4. Literacy, Education, And The Reader -- 5. Commodity And Communication : The First American Novel -- 6. Privileging The Feme Covert : The Sociology Of Sentimental Fiction -- 7. The Picaresque And The Margins Of Political Discourse -- 8. Early American Gothic : The Limits Of Individualism -- Afterword : Texts As Histories. Cathy N. Davidson. Includes Bibliographical References. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 263-313) And Index. [This book] revisits topics of dissent in the early national period, the status of the Constitution as a document designed to quell the still-burning passions of the American Revolution, and the role played by the novel in publicizing and articulating complex desires not addressed at the Constitutional Convention. This new introduction also provides a survey and critique of the controversial and productive scholarship in cultural, social, and political theory as it has evolved during the last twenty years. -Back cover Introduction : Toward A History Of Texts -- The Book In The New Republic -- Ideology And Genre -- Literacy, Education, And The Reader -- Commodity And Communication : The First American Novel -- Privileging The Feme Covert : The Sociology Of Sentimental Fiction -- The Picaresque And The Margins Of Political Discourse -- Early American Gothic : The Limits Of Individualism -- Afterword : Texts As Histories. Cathy N. Davidson. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [367]-442) And Index. Combining rigorous historicism with new critical theory, and using a feminist perspective, Davidson questions the ideology implicit in any definition of a univocal "American literary tradition" and goes far beyond polemics to show an alternative--and subversive--American literary tradition at work.