The Dispute of the New World: The History of a Polemic, 1750–1900

Suggestions for Further Research

Suggestions for Further Research Quid juvat in tantis cervellum perdere libris? Magister Stopinus THE books I have used in my own research are mentioned in the footnotes on the appropriate pages; those cited on more than one occasion are also listed in the Bibliography of Works Cited. It goes without saying that these references, as also the rare biographical annotations, are inversely proportionate to the notoriety of the person under discussion. It did not seem necessary to outline the life of Byron or Jefferson, Leopardi or Hegel, and even less desirable to attempt to apprise the reader of the infinite bibliography concerning them. It did seem useful, on the other hand, to be somewhat more liberal with facts regarding a Filippo Mazzei or a Father Gilij, a Lord Kames or a Delisle de Sales. I have also had to conclude, after a tentative effort, that a chronological survey of the principal works of the polemic would be somewhat superfluous too; such an outline can be gleaned from the text or, for the reader in haste, from the index, and in any case the temporal successivity it would reveal does not always imply an ideological dependence or descent. More useful, it seemed to me, might be a list of the works I had not seen, but which, to judge from citations or catalog listings, or the mere promise of the title, appeared to contain material that would serve to enrich and develop some area of the history of the polemic. It may well be that some of these writings will prove to be useless, repetitious, or even completely extraneous to the argument. But a confession of ignorance is the basis of every research program. On the overseas expansion ofEurope and overall verdicts pronounced by the Europeans on the Americas: Adams. Ephraim Douglas. "The Point of View of the British Traveller in America." Political Science Quarterly. 29, no. 2 (June 1914), pp. 244-64. Allen, Walter, ed. Transatlantic Crossing. London, 1971. Amaral, L. As Americas antes dos europeos. Sao Paulo. 1946. Athearn, Robert G. Westward the Briton. London, 1953. Baudin, L. "L'Empire des Incas d'apres quelques ecrivains fran"ais des XVI. XVII et XVIII' siecles." Revue de ['Amerique Latine. 21 (1921), pp. 22-29. Berger, Max. The British Traveller in America, /836-/860. New York, 1943. Brodersen, Arvid. "Themes in the Interpretation of America by Prominent Visitors from Abroad." The Annals (of the American Academy of Political and Social Science), 295 (1954), pp. 21-32. (This volume of the Annals is entitled America through Foreign Eyes.) Brooks, John Graham. As Others See Us: A Study ofProgress in the U.S. New York, 1910. 655 656 Suggestions for Further Research Cawley, R. R. Unpathed Waters: Studies in the Influence of the Voyagers on Elizabethan Literature. Princeton, 1940. Cohen, Bernard. "The New World as a Source of Science for Europe." Actes dl/ IX""'e German Literatllre in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century . New York, 1926. Nor, on immigrants into the United States: Curti. M, and Birr. K. "The Immigrant and the American Image in Europe, 1860-1914." The Mississippi Val/ey Historical Review, 37 (1950). pp. 203-20. Thwaites, Reuben G., ed. Early Western Tral'els, /784-/846. Cleveland, 1904-07. And I have seen very little of other German authors who, like Kiirnberger, dealt with American themes. On Karl Postl. better known under the pseudonym of Charles Sealsfield, these would seem to be of some interest: Dallman, W. P. "The Spirit of America as Interpreted in the Works of Sealsfield." Dissertation, St. Louis, 1937. Djordjewitsch. M. Sealsfield's Allffassun/i des Amerikanertums lind seine literarhistorische Stel/ung. Weimar, 1931. Other references can very easily be extracted from the monumental work of Eduard Castle (see Bibliography of Works Cited). On May one should see at least: May, Klara. Mit Karl May durch Amerika. Radebuhl, 1932. And on Gerstlicker: O'Donnell, G. H. R. "Gerstl1ckerin America, 1837-43." PMLA, 42 (1927), pp. 1036-43. Prahl, A. J. "America in the Works of Gerstacker." Modern Language Quarterly (Seattle). 4, no. 2 (June 1943), pp. 213-24. Suggestions for Further Research 667 But it would certainly be more profitable to delve further .into the reactions of the North American scientists around 1800, looking at the original texts, such as: Clinton, De Witt. Introductory Discourse, Delil'ered Before the Literary and Philosophical Society of Nell' York, on the 4th of May, 1814...