Description
During the antebellum period, British publishers increasingly brought out their own authorized and unauthorized editions of American literary works as the popularity of print exploded and literacy rates grew. Playing a formative role in the shaping of American literature, the industry championed the work of US-based writers, highlighted the cultural value of American literary works, and intervened in debates about the future of American literature, authorship, and print culture.
The Transatlantic Materials of American Literature examines the British editions of American fiction, poetry, essays, and autobiographies from writers like Edgar Allan Poe, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass, and Hannah Flagg Gould. Putting these publications into historical context, Katie McGettigan considers key issues of the day, including developments in copyright law, changing print technologies, and the financial considerations at play for authors and publishers. This innovative study also uncovers how the transatlantic circulation of these works exposed the racial violence and cultural nationalism at the heart of the American experiment, producing overlapping and competing visions of American nationhood in the process.
Author: Katie McGettigan
Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
Published: 02/24/2023
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 9.60h x 6.30w x 0.80d
ISBN13: 9781625346858
ISBN10: 1625346859
BISAC Categories:
- Literary Criticism | Modern | 19th Century
- Literary Criticism | American | General
- History | United States | 19th Century
About the Author
KATIE MCGETTIGAN is senior lecturer of American literature at Royal Holloway, University of London and author of Herman Melville: Modernity and the Material Text.