Capital Letters: Authorship In The Antebellum Literary Market
by David Dowling /
2009 / English / PDF
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In the 1840s and 1850s, as the market revolution swept the United
States, the world of literature confronted for the first time the
gaudy glare of commercial culture. Amid growing technological
sophistication and growing artistic rejection of the soullessness
of materialism, authorship passed from an era of patronage and
entered the clamoring free market. In this setting, romantic
notions of what it meant to be an author came under attack, and
authors became professionals.
In the 1840s and 1850s, as the market revolution swept the United
States, the world of literature confronted for the first time the
gaudy glare of commercial culture. Amid growing technological
sophistication and growing artistic rejection of the soullessness
of materialism, authorship passed from an era of patronage and
entered the clamoring free market. In this setting, romantic
notions of what it meant to be an author came under attack, and
authors became professionals.
In lively and provocative writing, David Dowling moves beyond a
study of the emotional toll that this crisis in self-definition
had on writers to examine how three sets of authors—in pairings
of men and women: Harriet Wilson and Henry David Thoreau, Fanny
Fern and Walt Whitman, and Rebecca Harding Davis and Herman
Melville—engaged with and transformed the book market. What were
their critiques of the capitalism that was transforming the world
around them? How did they respond to the changing marketplace
that came to define their very success as authors? How was the
role of women influenced by these conditions?
In lively and provocative writing, David Dowling moves beyond a
study of the emotional toll that this crisis in self-definition
had on writers to examine how three sets of authors—in pairings
of men and women: Harriet Wilson and Henry David Thoreau, Fanny
Fern and Walt Whitman, and Rebecca Harding Davis and Herman
Melville—engaged with and transformed the book market. What were
their critiques of the capitalism that was transforming the world
around them? How did they respond to the changing marketplace
that came to define their very success as authors? How was the
role of women influenced by these conditions?Capital Letters
Capital Letters concludes with a fascinating and daring
transhistorical comparison of how two superstar authors—Herman
Melville in the nineteenth century and Stephen King today—have
negotiated the shifting terrain of the literary marketplace. The
result is an important contribution to our understanding of print
culture and literary work.
concludes with a fascinating and daring
transhistorical comparison of how two superstar authors—Herman
Melville in the nineteenth century and Stephen King today—have
negotiated the shifting terrain of the literary marketplace. The
result is an important contribution to our understanding of print
culture and literary work.