Book contents
- American Literature in Transition, 1770–1828
- Nineteenth-Century American Literature In Transition
- American Literature in Transition, 1770–1828
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Series Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Chapter 1 Introduction
- Part I Form and Genre
- Chapter 2 The Law of Form and the Form of the Law
- Chapter 3 The Statesman’s Address
- Chapter 4 Vocabularies and Other Indigenous-Language Texts
- Chapter 5 The Genteel Novel in the Early United States
- Chapter 6 The State of Our Union
- Chapter 7 “To assume her Language as my own”
- Chapter 8 “Ambiguities and Little Secrets”
- Part II Networks
- Part III Methods for Living
- Index
Chapter 3 - The Statesman’s Address
from Part I - Form and Genre
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 June 2022
- American Literature in Transition, 1770–1828
- Nineteenth-Century American Literature In Transition
- American Literature in Transition, 1770–1828
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Series Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Chapter 1 Introduction
- Part I Form and Genre
- Chapter 2 The Law of Form and the Form of the Law
- Chapter 3 The Statesman’s Address
- Chapter 4 Vocabularies and Other Indigenous-Language Texts
- Chapter 5 The Genteel Novel in the Early United States
- Chapter 6 The State of Our Union
- Chapter 7 “To assume her Language as my own”
- Chapter 8 “Ambiguities and Little Secrets”
- Part II Networks
- Part III Methods for Living
- Index
Summary
This chapter explores the formative role that political oratory played in the literary culture of the early republic, with a particular focus on the statesman's address. American literature bears a strong relationship to oral forms and styles. In the period covered by this volume, the interplay of oral and written language shapes the works of Thomas Paine and Benjamin Franklin, while oratory figures importantly in such notable novels as Modern Chivalry (1792–1815), Wieland (1798), and Last of the Mohicans (1826). Political speech was far more central to the literary culture of the day than was the novel, with oratorical culture dominating English education until after the Civil War. “The Statesman's Address” considers the influence of Native American oratory and evangelical preaching on a genre that came into its own in the Revolutionary period and gained importance as the contours of the new republic were defined and contested.
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- American Literature in Transition, 1770–1828 , pp. 34 - 51Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022