The Romance of Real Life: Charles Brockden Brown and the Origins of American Culture

by Steven Watts

Among the leading writers of the early republic, Charles Brockden Brown often appears as a romantic prototype--the brilliant, alienated author rejected by a utilitarian, materialistic American society. In The Romance of Real Life Steven Watts reinterprets Brown's life and work as a complex case study in the emerging culture of capitalism at the dawn of the nineteenth century. Offering a revisionist view of Brown himself, Watts examines the major novels of the 1790s as well as previously neglected sources--from early essays and private letters to late-career forays into journalism, political pamphleteering, serial fiction, and cultural criticism.

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

A specialist in the cultural and intellectual history of the United States, Steven Watts is Professor Emeritus in History at the University of Missouri.

Reviews

[Justinian · Rating 4 out of 5]

2020-01 - The Romance of Real Life: Charles Brockden Brown and the Origins of American Culture. Steven Watts (Author) 1994. 270 Pages.

My second Charles Brockden Brown biography. This book originated as an outgrowth of an earlier book (“The Republic Reborn: War and the Making of Liberal America, 1790-1820) the author wrote on the early republic. This is the second biography in quest to become the Charles Brockden Brown scholar that I wanted to talk too. Because this book grew out of a previous book it is not a standard subject focused biography. This book is really about context, anchoring the author in his time period to discern his influences and whom or what he was influencing. The author does an excellent job of discussing contextual aspects of the Early Republic which show up in the writings and thoughts of Charles Brockden Brown. This book is a real gem at not just understanding the author, literature or prose but also offering insights into that period of transition between being a colony of England and then falling into the Victorian cultural backlash against eh forces let loose by the era of Revolutions. My reader’s notes will run 10-12 pages when finished. Much of the material that intrigued me and which I thought would be applicable for addition as material at Historic Waynesborough I have been able to verify through other sources. This book came from The Free Library of Philadelphia. All told this is an excellent biography if you want to understand what shaped and formed the writer, how the writer reflected this, and how the writer contributed to what follows.