Novels, Readers, and Reviewers, Responses to Fiction in Antebellum America, Nina Baym
Type
Label
Novels, Readers, and Reviewers, Responses to Fiction in Antebellum America, Nina Baym
Language
eng
resource.governmentPublication
other
Main title
Novels, Readers, and Reviewers
Medium
electronic resource
Nature of contents
dictionaries
Oclc number
1048922764
Responsibility statement
Nina Baym
Series statement
Open Access e-Books
Sub title
Responses to Fiction in Antebellum America
Summary
This book describes and characterizes responses of American readers to fiction in the generation before the Civil War. It is based on close examination of the reviews of all novels-both American and European-that appeared in major American periodicals during the years 1840-1860, a period in which magazines, novels, and novel reviews all proliferated. Nina Baym makes uses of the reviews to gain information about the formal, aesthetic, and moral expectations of reviewers. Her major conclusion is that the accepted view about the American novel before the Civil War-the view that the atmosphere in America was hostile to fiction-is a myth. There is compelling evidence, she shows, for the existence of a veritable novel industry and, concomitantly, a vast audience for fiction in the 1840s and 1850s.--, Provided by publisher
Target audience
specialized
Creator
Subject
Content
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