This Companion presents the current state of criticism in the field of American fiction from the earliest declarations of nationhood to secession and civil war. Draws heavily on historical and cultural contexts in its consideration of American fiction Relates the fiction of the period to conflicts about territory and sovereignty and to issues of gender, race, ethnicity and identity Covers different forms of fiction, including children s literature, sketches, polemical pieces, historical romances, Gothic novels and novels of exploration Considers both canonical and lesser-known authors, including James Fennimore Cooper, Hannah Foster, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville and Harriet Beecher Stowe Treats neglected topics, such as the Western novel, science and the novel, and American fiction in languages other than English

This Companion presents the current state of criticism in the field of American fiction from the earliest declarations of nationhood to secession and civil war.* Draws heavily on historical and cultural contexts in its consideration of American fiction* Relates the fiction of the period to conflicts about territory and sovereignty and to issues of gender, race, ethnicity and identity* Covers different forms of fiction, including children's literature, sketches, polemical pieces, historical romances, Gothic novels and novels of exploration* Considers both canonical and lesser-known authors, including James Fennimore Cooper, Hannah Foster, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville and Harriet Beecher Stowe* Treats neglected topics, such as the Western novel, science and the novel, and American fiction in languages other than English

List of Illustrations viiiNotes on Contributors ixAcknowledgments xviIntroduction 1Shirley SamuelsPART I Historical and Cultural Contexts 51 National Narrative and the Problem of American Nationhood7J. Gerald Kennedy2 Fiction and Democracy 20Paul Downes3 Democratic Fictions 31Sandra M. Gustafson4 Engendering American Fictions 40Martha J. Cutter and Caroline F. Levander5 Race and Ethnicity 52Robert S. Levine6 Class 64Philip Gould7 Sexualities 75Valerie Rohy8 Religion 87Paul Gutjahr9 Education and Polemic 97Stephanie Foote10 Marriage and Contract 108Naomi Morgenstern11 Transatlantic Ventures 119Wil Verhoeven and Stephen Shapiro12 Other Languages, Other Americas 131Kirsten Silva GrueszPART II Forms of Fiction 14513 Literary Histories 147Michael Drexler and Ed White14 Breeding and Reading: Chesterfieldian Civility in the EarlyRepublic 158Christopher Lukasik15 The American Gothic 168Marianne Noble16 Sensational Fiction 179Shelley Streeby17 Melodrama and American Fiction 191Lori Merish18 Delicate Boundaries: Passing and Other''Crossings'' in Fictionalized SlaveNarratives 204Cherene Sherrard-Johnson19 Doctors, Bodies, and Fiction 216Stephanie P. Browner20 Law and the American Novel 228Laura H. Korobkin21 Labor and Fiction 239Cindy Weinstein22 Words for Children 249Carol J. Singley23 Dime Novels 262Colin T. Ramsey and Kathryn Zabelle Derounian-Stodola24 Reform and Antebellum Fiction 274Chris CastigliaPART III Authors, Locations, Purposes 28525 The Problem of the City 287Heather Roberts26 New Landscapes 301Timothy Sweet27 The Gothic Meets Sensation: Charles Brockden Brown, EdgarAllan Poe, George Lippard, and E. D. E. N. Southworth 314Dana Luciano28 Retold Legends: Washington Irving, James Kirke Paulding, andJohn Pendleton Kennedy 330Philip Barnard29 Captivity and Freedom: Ann Eliza Bleecker, Harriet PrescottSpofford, and Washington Irving's ''Rip VanWinkle'' 342Eric Gary Anderson30 New England Tales: Catharine Sedgwick, Catherine Brown, andthe Dislocations of Indian Land 353Bethany Schneider31 Harriet Beecher Stowe, Caroline Lee Hentz, Herman Melvilleand American Racialist Exceptionalism 365Katherine Adams32 Fictions of the South: Southern Portraits of Slavery378Nancy Buffington33 The West 388Edward Watts34 The Old Southwest: Mike Fink, Augustus Baldwin LongstreetJohnson Jones Hooper, and George Washington Harris 400David Rachels35 James Fenimore Cooper and the Invention of the American Novel411Wayne Franklin36 The Sea: Herman Melville and Moby-Dick 425Stephanie A. Smith37 National Narrative and National History 434Russ CastronovoIndex 445