Reading the American Novel 1780-1865

Reading the American Novel 1780-1865 provides valuable insights into the evolution and diversity of fictional genres produced in the United States from the late 18th century until the Civil War, and helps introductory students to interpret and understand the fiction from this popular period. Offers an overview of early fictional genres and introduces ways to interpret them todayFeatures in depth examinations of specific novelsExplores the social and historical contexts of the time to help the readers’ understanding of  the storiesExplores questions of identity - about the novel, its 19th-century readers, and the emerging structure of the United States - as an important backdrop to understanding American fictionProfiles the major authors, including Louisa May Alcott, Charles Brockden Brown, James Fenimore Cooper, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Harriet Beecher Stowe, alongside less familiar writers such as Fanny Fern, Caroline Kirkland, George Lippard, Catharine Sedgwick, and E. D. E. N. SouthworthSelected by Choice as a 2013 Outstanding Academic TitleContent: Chapter 1 Introduction to the American Novel (pages 1–22): Chapter 2 Historical Codes in Literary Analysis (pages 23–44): Chapter 3 Women, Blood, and Contract (pages 45–66): Chapter 4 Black Rivers, Red Letters, and White Whales (pages 67–90): Chapter 5 Promoting the Nation in James Fenimore Cooper and Harriet Beecher Stowe (pages 91–117): Chapter 6 Women's Worlds in the Nineteenth?Century Novel (pages 119–150):