In this Book
- The Intimacy of Paper in Early and Nineteenth-Century American Literature
- Book
- 2020
- Published by: University of Massachusetts Press
- Series: Studies in Print Culture and the History of the Book
summary
The true scale of paper production in America from 1690 through the end of the nineteenth century was staggering, with a range of parties participating in different ways, from farmers growing flax to textile workers weaving cloth and from housewives saving rags to peddlers collecting them. Making a bold case for the importance of printing and paper technology in the study of early American literature, Jonathan Senchyne presents archival evidence of the effects of this very visible process on American writers, such as Anne Bradstreet, Herman Melville, Lydia Sigourney, William Wells Brown, and other lesser-known figures.
The Intimacy of Paper in Early and Nineteenth-Century American Literature reveals that book history and literary studies are mutually constitutive and proposes a new literary periodization based on materiality and paper production. In unpacking this history and connecting it to cultural and literary representations, Senchyne also explores how the textuality of paper has been used to make social and political claims about gender, labor, and race.
The Intimacy of Paper in Early and Nineteenth-Century American Literature reveals that book history and literary studies are mutually constitutive and proposes a new literary periodization based on materiality and paper production. In unpacking this history and connecting it to cultural and literary representations, Senchyne also explores how the textuality of paper has been used to make social and political claims about gender, labor, and race.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Preface and Acknowledgments
- pp. viii-xv
- Introduction
- pp. 1-32
- Conclusion: Reading into Surfaces
- pp. 157-166
Additional Information
ISBN
9781613767160
Related ISBN(s)
9781613767177, 9781625344731, 9781625344748
MARC Record
OCLC
1199128194
Pages
212
Launched on MUSE
2020-10-10
Language
English
Open Access
No