Republican Fictions in Search of an Audience: The Works of Charles Brockden Brown

Brown's life spanned the decades during which neoclassical notions of authorship gave way to more market-driven conceptions. Accordingly, reading practices were transformed as novels became ever more popular. Directed to an ever-widening and more socially diverse audience of women and men, novels displaced older, elite reading practices made possible by common educations and values of gentleman readers. Elements of both models of writing coexist in Brown's work and create significant dissonances in it. Early reviews of Brown's works, however, reveal that his enduring reputation was and is largely based on the literary standards and political requirements of the periods after his death rather than the unsettled conditions in which the author lived and wrote.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2014

Author dc:creator

• Ericksen, David Elliott

Contributors dc:contributor

• Baym, Nina

• Literature, American

Identifier

(UMI)AAI9411614

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/72044