Nineteenth-century studies
1 total work
Is the classic 19th-century American novel really a novel of romance?Does the theory of the American romance suffer from a confused conception of the relationship of culture and society and from a faulty historical understanding?Comparing The Scarlet Letter and The Charterhouse of Parma, and, ranging through Hawthorne's prefaces, James's essay on Hawthorne, and Cooper's works, Ellis shows how the theory of the American romance forms part ofa larger intellectual movement, and challenges the idea of the singularity of American literature.