Dislocating Race and Nation: Episodes in Nineteenth-Century American Literary Nationalism

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments I am pleased to acknowledge the assistance I have received from a number of individuals and institutions. For their helpful responses to sections of the book, my thanks to Jana Argersinger, Philip Barnard, Christopher Castiglia, Russ Castronovo, Mark Kamrath, Caroline Levander, Lee Person , Hollis Robbins, Xiomara Santamarina, Brook Thomas, Stephen Shapiro , and Todd Vogel. My special thanks to Caroline Levander for pushing me to think more hemispherically. I am particularly indebted to Leonard Cassuto and Ivy Goodman for their meticulous readings of the entire manuscript. I am grateful as well to Gregg Crane and John Stauffer, the outside readers for the University of North Carolina Press, whose engaged commentary prompted a substantial final revision. A fellowship from the Graduate Research Board at the University of Maryland provided much-appreciated time for the writing. I did the bulk of my research at the Library of Congress and University of Maryland’s McKeldin Library, and I thank the expert librarians at both institutions. My arguments in this book developed over time, and earlier versions of sections of some of the chapters were first published as essays. I would like to thank the editors of the following books and journals for the useful forums: Revising Charles Brockden Brown: Culture, Politics, and Sexuality in the Early Republic (2004), In Search of Hannah Crafts: Critical Essays on ‘‘The Bondwoman’s Narrative’’ (2004), The Black Press: Literary and Historical Essays on the ‘‘Other’’ Front Page (2001), African American Review (2000), Leviathan (1999), and Yearbook of Research in English and American Literature (1998). I also delivered portions of this book as talks, and I did my best to take advantage of the many provocative questions and comments that came up during the discussions. In particular I would like to thank Robert Caserio at Pennsylvania State University, Christopher Castiglia at Loyola University (and now at Pennsylvania State University ), Michael Drexler at Bucknell University, John Ernest at West Virginia University, J. Gerald Kennedy at Louisiana State University, Caroline {x} Acknowledgments Levander at Rice University, Sarah Mesle at Northwestern University, Donald Pease at the Dartmouth College American Studies Institute, and Christina Zwarg at Haverford College. My warm thanks to Sian Hunter, my wonderfully energetic, supportive , and knowledgeable editor at the University of North Carolina Press. For their editorial labors at the Press, I would also like to thank Nathan McCamic, Ellen Bush, Kathleen Ketterman, and, for his excellent copyediting , Jay Mazzocchi. My thanks as well to Mark Mastromarino for his fine work on the index. My colleagues and friends at the University of Maryland—John Auchard , Jonathan Auerbach, Ralph Bauer, Vincent Carretta, Neil Fraistat, Theodore Leinwand, Marilee Lindemann, Elizabeth Loizeaux, Carla Peterson , Martha Nell Smith, Mary Helen Washington, and many others— continue to provide the ideal intellectual and collegial community. But none of my work would matter without the sustaining love and dislocating good humor of my wife, Ivy Goodman, and son, Aaron. This book is dedicated to my parents and in memory of Jay Fliegelman . Jay was my mentor and friend for over thirty years. An inspiration to all who knew him, Jay died much too young at the age of fifty-eight. I like to think that he would have taken pleasure in certain Fliegelmanesque aspects of this work. Jay dedicated his first book to his parents, whom he described as ‘‘the two people who, by their example, showed me how to love.’’ Following Jay’s lead, I dedicated my own first book to my parents, and for their continuing love and support, I am happy to offer this second dedication. Dislocating Race • Nation This page intentionally left blank ...