Literature, American Style PAGEi This page intentionally left blank LITERATURE, AMERICAN STYLE THE ORIGINALITY OF IMITATION IN THE EARLY REPUBLIC EZRA TAWIL university of pennsylvania press philadelphia Copyright(cid:2)2018UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress Allrightsreserved. Exceptforbriefquotationsusedforpurposesofrevieworscholarlycitation, noneofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyformbyanymeans withoutwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher. Publishedby UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress Philadelphia,Pennsylvania19104-4112 www.upenn.edu/pennpress PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica onacid-freepaper 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Names:Tawil,EzraF.,author. Title:Literature,Americanstyle:theoriginalityofimitationintheearlyRepublic/EzraTawil. Description:1stedition.(cid:2)Philadelphia:UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress,[2018](cid:2)Includes bibliographicalreferencesandindex. Identifiers:LCCN2018002988(cid:2)ISBN978-0-8122-5037-4(hardcover:alk.paper) Subjects:LCSH:Americanliterature—1783–1850—Historyandcriticism.(cid:2)National characteristics,American,inliterature.(cid:2)Nationalismandliterature—UnitedStates.(cid:2)English language—UnitedStates—Orthographyandspelling—History—18thcentury.(cid:2)English language—UnitedStates—Style. Classification:LCCPS195.N35T392018(cid:2)DDC810.9/35873—dc23 LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2018002988 PAGEiv ForKirsten and forJules PAGEv This page intentionally left blank Theliteraturethatshouldcharacterizeagreatpeopleis alwaysinterestingtoexamine,Ibelieve:theliterature ofanenlightenedpeople,whohaveestablishedliberty, politicalequality,andmannersinharmonywithsuch institutions.RightnowtheAmericansaretheonlynation intheuniversetowhichthesereflectionsareapplicable. Americansmaystillhavenodevelopedliterature,but whentheirmeninpublicofficearecalledupontoaddress publicopiniontheyobviouslypossessthegiftoftouching thesoul’saffectionswithsimpletruthsandpurefeelings. Anyonewhocandothisalreadyknowsthemostuseful secretsofstyle. —GermainedeStae¨l,OnLiterature(1800) PAGEvii This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS Introduction.StyleandtheCisatlantic 1 Chapter1.ToFormaMorePerfectLanguage: NoahWebster’sAmerican-StyleEnglish 38 Chapter2.TransatlanticCorrespondences: Cre`vecoeurandtheIncorrectStyle 87 Chapter3.“NewFormsofSublimity”: CharlesBrockdenBrownandtheIrregularStyle 121 Chapter4.“HomespunHabits”: Seduction,Sentiment,andtheArtlessStyle 149 Coda.StockandSoil 182 Notes 191 Index 247 Acknowledgments 255 PAGEix