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The Power of Sympathy and The Coquette
Written in epistolary form and drawn from actual events, The Power of Sympathy (1789) and The Coquette (1797) were two of the earliest novels published in America. William Hill Brown's The Power of Sympathy reflects eighteenth-century America's preoccupation with the role of women as safekeepers of the country's morality. A novel about the dangers of succumbing to sexual t...more
Paperback, 352 pages
Published
November 1st 1996
by Penguin Classics
(first published January 1st 1970)
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This marks my having finished The Power of Sympathy, but no having read The Coquette. We read this for Colonial American Literature, and my professor came into class excited to lecture about this book and about (the television version of) "Gossip Girl"--most specifically the scandal surrounding "Gossip Girl"'s threesome in a recent episode. It was actually a really great way to connect the two, as the books mentioned in the novel function much in the same way parents' groups claim "Gossip Girl"...more
The Coquette is a really fascinating seduction narrative with a witty and complexly-drawn protagonist. Although it has a lot of the same predictable features that other texts of this genre have, I think Eliza is much more interesting and more sympathetic than some of her seduced sisters (although my students categorically disliked her). The epistolary style keeps the text moving and gives you a number of different insights into the culture of the period.
Apr 22, 2010
Emily
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone who really wanted to read the 1st American novel
Recommended to Emily by:
Wikipedia?
Shelves:
mostly-classics
"Intended to represent the specious causes, and to Expose the fatal CONSEQUENCES, of SEDUCTION; To inspire the Female Mind With a Principle of Self Complacency, and to Promote the Economy of Human Life"
The first American novel, written in America, by an American, about Americans. Fittingly, it is all about sex, incest, illegitimate children and scandal!
"No man can read 50 boring EPISTOLARIES about some DOMESTIC STUFF in oldtimey TEXT" - ben frnaklin in he was in Cool hand luke
Nach 20 Seiten abgebrochen. Ich darf das zwar als Anglistik-Studentin eigentlich nicht sagen, aber ich hasse geschwollene Sprache.
Classic sentimental/conduct epistolary fiction, including the first American novel ever (Brown's).
Epistolary warnings against the vices of loosing one's virginity.
Dated, but interesting as one of the first American novels.
Oh my goodness! This book (The Power of Sympathy)is a series of letters from young man to young woman, dowager to maid, other young man to other young woman...back and forth...on and on...each letter unraveling the story and adding to the suspense...it is a classic...very different reading from modern novels. But it is fun and has a surprise ending. Again, a required book for a BYU lit. class I'm taking. Ergo...that's why I read it.
Read this for an American literature class... HATED it...sold it back as soon as I could...taking another American literature class with the same professor....this book is assigned again. Nooooo
Very easy and enjoyable reads.
May 12, 2013
Emily
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Apr 30, 2013
Christa Amos
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Elizabeth
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Recommended to Elizabeth by:
The Hub; The Power of Sympathy
Shelves:
put-on-hold,
fiction
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