Charles Brockden Brown and the Literary Magazine: Cultural Journalism in the Early American Republic

Front Cover
McFarland, Apr 13, 2004 - Language Arts & Disciplines - 213 pages

From 1803 to 1807, Charles Brockden Brown served as editor and chief contributor to the Literary Magazine, and American Register, a popular Philadelphia miscellany. His position allowed him to observe and comment upon life in the United States and transatlantic world during the nineteenth century's first decade.

This book considers how Brown's Literary Magazine contributed to the development of cultural cohesiveness and political stability in the young United States. It explores the intellectual and cultural setting in which this Philadelphia miscellany was published, the political writing that appears in what Brown claimed was a politically neutral venue, and the social and cultural criticism that attempts to guide the development of the American character. During his twenty years as an author, he participated in disseminating texts of cultural and literary worth. Brown's essays and reviews assisted in the establishment of reading habits in America and influenced the public reception of the early American press.

From inside the book

Contents

Acknowledgments
1
ONE The Task of an Editor
11
Two The Republic and the Liberal Individual
37
THREE The Mockingbird the Mirror and the Makings
81
FOUR Fragments of Fiction
127
Afterword
155
Notes
161
Bibliography
189
Index
197
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (2004)

Michael Cody is an English Professor at East Tennessee State University. He lives in Johnson City, Tennessee.

Bibliographic information