a novel idea: an introduction to the novel, the early american novel, and "the coquette"

A Novel Ideaan introduction to the novel,

the Early American Novel, and The Coquette

There is a great deal of solemn discussion about

The Novel. In fact, every novel is an answer to the ancient plea,

“Tell us a story.”~ Pamela Brown

When we discuss a definition of what exactly a novel is, we are discussing how the story is packaged – what form it takes.

Define, please…Webster’s says a novel is “a fictitiousprose narrative of considerable length and complexity, portraying characters and usually presenting a sequential organization of action and scenes.”Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary

It’s lacking “considerable length.”

Also lacking “considerable length.”

This is called a “novella” – a little novel.

It’s poetry, not prose.

It’s true, so it’s fact, not fiction.

What Webster’s doesn’t tell us is that

the novel also creates in the reader the

feeling that he or she is there in the story

watching the action.

Novels create in us the feeling that we are experiencing a life separate from our own.

Part of this is because, unlike plays or epic poems, the novel was intended to

be a private experience between the

reader and the book.

A novel can be read over the course of days, weeks, or even years. Although read by many people, the experience of reading a novel is intensely personal.

That is why people have such different reactions to novels; a tremendous part of what

you get out of a novel is what

you bring to the novel.

Marion C. Garretty said, “A novel is the chance to try on a different life for size.”

A long period of development preceded

the emergence of what we would call the novel in the English in the 18th Century.

Among the predecessors to the novel were romances like the legends of King Arthur.

And epic poems like The Odyssey by Homer.

“Yea, and if some god shall wreck me in the wine-dark deep,even so I will endure…For already have I suffered full much,and much have I toiled in perils of waves and war.Let this be added to the tale of those.”

“Even his griefs are a joy long after to one that remembers all that he wrought and endured.”

“Be strong, saith my heart; I am a soldier;I have seen worse sights than this.”

Although your parents would probably rather have you read a novel than do just about anything else…

(In fact, it’s possible you get out of chores by saying that you have to read something, you know, for school.)

Back then, novels were seen as dangerous and corrupting. Looking at this quote, let’s substitute the term “rap music” for “romances, novels, and plays” and see what we come up with:

“The free access which many young people have to rap music romances, novels, and plays has poisoned the mind and corrupted the morals of many a promising youth; and prevented others from improving their minds in useful knowledge.” ~ Enos Hitchcock

Also, girls (to whom the novels were aimed) should have been doing something better with their time.

Another argument against novels was that reading about all of these romantic, heroic men might create expectations in young girls that real men couldn’t meet.

Another crucial argument against the reading of novels was that unlike the Bible or sermons, which were interpreted or needed to be interpreted by an authority figure, reading a novel was an individual experience.

The person reading the novel didn’t need someone else to tell the reader what it meant. A number of people used to having authority and control over what kinds of things people read were very uncomfortable with this idea.

You could find as many

DIFFERENTANSWERSto what the first truly American

novel was as you found people to ask.

If you used the criteriathat the novel had to be

written by a person born in America

published in America

set in America and

written about American issues

Then there would be a clear

FRONTRUNNER.

The Power of Sympathy William Hill Brown, published in 1789

The WINNER

It’s a seduction novel, meaning that it features a naïve girl who

is seduced by a bad guy.

She becomes pregnant or otherwise has her virtue sullied

in some way, and then dies.

It’s an epistolary novel, meaning that it is written in the form of a

series of letters {epistles}.

This was a very popular style of writing at the time..

forms were common among

Early American Novels.

4

Sentimental.1These were novels based on sentimentality, or feelings, as opposed to logic and reason.

In Sentimental novels, the emphasis is on the goodness of humanity.

Picaresque.2Picaresque novels focus on a hero, usually a

trickster, who has a series of adventures.

Gothic.3Gothic novels featured castles, ruined abbeys, superstition, and maniacal people who looked

deceptively normal from the outside.

Frontier.4Frontier stories, like The Last of the Mohicans,

were filled with nostalgia. They attempted to unify the spirit of what it meant to be American.

Lastly, let’s look at the novel we’ll be reading.

written by Hannah Webster Foster and published anonymously in 1797

The Coquette

Foster’s epistolary novel was very popular for a long time, remaining in print for thirty years after its initial publication.

WARNING:

SPOILERS FOLLOW

But we promise that they’ll help you enjoy the novel even more.

Based on the story of the real life Elizabeth Whitman, it tells the story of Eliza Wharton, a girl from a good family who falls in love with a man who is secretly engaged to someone else.

She’s got another suitor, Boyer, who is a minister, but he’s not as exciting as Sanford, the one who is engaged to someone else .

BO

RIN

G!

Her friends try to warn her about Sanford, but she just won’t listen.

His relationship with Eliza continues even after his marriage, and Eliza dies of a fever after giving birth to a dead baby.

Because the novel is told in epistolary form, you will have to look to the end of the letter to see who is writing.

Don’t complain about this, as you probably don’t put your own name at the top of letters you write, either.

So if you’re

READY

Let’s read!

To get your very own

FREE COPY

gutenberg.org/ebooks/12431Just click

Credits:Images from Pixabay except as otherwise noted.Images with text embedded created with Photofunia or Picmonkey.Image on Slide 9 by Jonathan Lin, https://www.flickr.com/photos/jonolist/646875125, Black & white library image by Daniel Dalton on flickrhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/126522904@N02/14859717093Black & white young woman reading byTimo Neumann https://www.flickr.com/photos/timojneumann/12140057234Power of Sympathy image courtesy of William Reese CompanyMan on Telly by Lubs Mary https://www.flickr.com/photos/meaning_absence/3234862031/sizes/o/in/photostream/Flirt by debaird https://www.flickr.com/photos/debaird/114275823Sepia-toned books by Hellmy https://www.flickr.com/photos/hellmy/4273321047All Flickr images shared with this license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0.

The design of some of the slides was based on designs by @ned_potter.