Voices of Cosmopolitanism in Early American Writing and Culture (The New Urban Atlantic)

This book argues that cosmopolitanism was a feature of early American discourses of nation formation and eighteenth-century colonialism. With the analysis of writings by Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson, Philip Mazzei, and Olaudah Equiano, the book reassesses the terms in which we understand cosmopolitanism, its relationship with local and transatlantic environments, and the way these representative writers from different segments of colonial society identified themselves and America within the transatlantic context. The book shows that the transnational and universalist appeal of the cosmopolitan not only accompanies empire building and defines a narrative that aligns the cosmopolitan perspective of global understanding and cooperation with western political ideology. The language of the cosmopolitan also forms the basis of a rhetoric that resists imperial expansion and allows writers in a variety of cultural, social, and political margins to find a voice to identify themselves, America, and the transatlantic world they imagine. Acknowledgements 6 Contents 9 Chapter 1 Introduction 10 References 23 Chapter 2 Caught in the Webs of Empire: Benjamin Franklin’s Cosmopolitan Ideas for an American Self 26 1 An American Republic of Letters 29 2 The World Moves Within: Cosmopolitanism and Place 37 3 Virtue Remembered: Cosmopolitanism and Franklin’s Autobiography 42 4 Of Weeds and Polyps: A Nationalistic Cosmopolitan? 58 References 64 Chapter 3 Jefferson’s Cosmopolitan Nature in Notes on the State of Virginia 67 1 Changing Frames: From Barbé-Marbois’ Questionnaire to Notes’ Publication to Remembering It All 70 2 Rhetorical Revolutions and Involutions 76 3 Invalidating Buffon’s Theory 86 References 103 Chapter 4 Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson’s Cosmopolis of Letters 106 1 Fergusson’s World of Letters 106 2 Past and Present Correspondences 121 References 133 Chapter 5 ‘A Continual and Almost Exclusive Correspondence’: Philip Mazzei’s Cosmopolitan Citizenship 136 1 Letters 140 2 Letters of Exchange: How to Become an American 142 3 Transatlantic Correspondences: The American Experience 150 4 Postscriptum 163 References 164 Chapter 6 The Cosmopolitan Frame of Olaudah Equiano’s Interesting Narrative 166 1 Rewriting the Frame 170 2 Rewriting Captivity in Cosmopolitan Terms 177 3 Captivities 182 4 Language Acquisition: Becoming “Almost” English 193 References 203 Index 207 Front Matter ....Pages i-ix Introduction (Chiara Cillerai)....Pages 1-16 Caught in the Webs of Empire: Benjamin Franklin’s Cosmopolitan Ideas for an American Self (Chiara Cillerai)....Pages 17-57 Jefferson’s Cosmopolitan Nature in Notes on the State of Virginia (Chiara Cillerai)....Pages 59-97 Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson’s Cosmopolis of Letters (Chiara Cillerai)....Pages 99-128 ‘A Continual and Almost Exclusive Correspondence’: Philip Mazzei’s Cosmopolitan Citizenship (Chiara Cillerai)....Pages 129-158 The Cosmopolitan Frame of Olaudah Equiano’s Interesting Narrative (Chiara Cillerai)....Pages 159-199 Back Matter ....Pages 201-205 Annotation This volume argues that cosmopolitanism was a feature of early American discourses of nation formation and 18th-century colonialism. With the analysis of writings by Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson, Philip Mazzei and Olaudah Equiano, the book reassesses the terms in which we understand cosmopolitanism, its relationship with local and transatlantic environments and the way these representative writers from different segments of colonial society identified themselves and America within the transatlantic context