Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Penguin Classics (1996), Paperback, 352 pages
Description
Written in epistolary form and drawn from actual events, Brown's The Power of Sympathy (1789) and Foster's The Coquette (1797) were two of the earliest novels published in the United States. Both novels reflect the eighteenth-century preoccupation with the role of women as safekeepers of the young country's morality.
User reviews
LibraryThing member JBD1
Two early American novels in the epistolary style; not great writing, but if you're into early fiction, they're decent examples.
LibraryThing member akblanchard
The dangers of sexual sin and improper conduct are the focus of the two early American novels contained in this volume. In The Power of Sympathy(1789), which, incidentally, is often mentioned as the first novel written by an American and published in the United States, the consequences of a
Show More
long-ago seduction threaten the happiness of a man's daughter and son. The title character in The Coquette (1797) pays a steep price for listening to the honeyed words of a incorrigible rake. Like Charlotte Temple (1791), another novel of the same vintage, these two epistolary novels are wordy, didactic, and filled with crying, fainting, and fits of low spirits. Still, they are interesting for the light they shed on late eighteenth century mores. Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original publication date
1789
1797
Physical description
352 p.; 7.82 inches
ISBN
0140434682 / 9780140434682