American Sympathy

Description:

In an analysis that weaves together literary criticism and historical narrative, Crain describes the strong friendships between men that supported and inspired some of America's greatest writing -- the Gothic novels of Charles Brockden Brown, the essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson, and the novels of Herman Melville. He traces the genealogy of these friendships through a series of stories. A dapper English spy inspires a Quaker boy to run away from home. Three Philadelphia gentlemen conduct a romance through diaries and letters in the 1780s. Flighty teenager Charles Brockden Brown metamorphoses into a horror novelist by treating his friends as his literary guinea pigs. Emerson exchanges glances with a Harvard classmate but sacrifices his crush on the altar of literature -- a decision Margaret Fuller invites him to reconsider two decades later. Throughout this book, Crain demonstrates the many ways in which the struggle to commit feelings to paper informed the shape and texture of American literature. - Jacket.

subjects: American literature,  Characters,  History,  History and criticism,  Male authors,  Male friendship,  Male friendship in literature,  Men,  Men in literature,  Sympathy in literature,  Écrits d'hommes américains,  Literatur,  Sympathie,  Männerfreundschaft,  Hommes,  Amitié masculine dans la littérature,  Amerikaans,  Personnages,  Littérature américaine,  Histoire,  Hommes dans la littérature,  Histoire et critique,  Letterkunde,  Amitié masculine,  Mannen,  Vriendschap,  Sympathie dans la littérature,  Brown, charles brockden, 1771-1810,  Emerson, ralph waldo, 1803-1882,  American literature, history and criticism, 19th century,  Friendship in literature,  Sympathy,  American literature, history and criticism, 1783-1850,  New York Times reviewed

People: Charles Brockden Brown (1771-1810),  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Places: United States

Times: 1783-1850,  19th century