Oh, the Times, They Aren't a'Changing

While I found Richard D. Brown's Essay "The Revolution's Legacy for the History of the Book" a bit dry, repetitive of other readings, and strangely, confusingly punctuated, I did find the discussion of American print ideology to be interesting in the ways our print ideologies have and have not changed.  Is our passion for Internet accessibility not our belief that "only an informed citizenry could properly identify and repel threats to liberty" (58), or to repel any other evils, for that matter?  And, don't we feel we have the "divine right to that most dreaded, and envied kind of knowledge...of the characters and conduct of... [our] rulers" (59)?  The Clinton scandals seem to shout "Yes we do!" even though other countries were surprised and confused by the American population's interest in and "divine right" to know about private lives of government officials.  Further, is our world of print encouraged to be further polysentric than before? Divided by sub-cultures and interests as well as geography?

I also find the libel laws interesting in light of recent Homeland Security laws and slander lawsuits.  While we would like to believe in our first amendment rights, they may not be any more protective than in the early republic, still a bit of a grey area, in fact.

The differences I see in each of the examples above came from Brown's statement that early Americans would criticize government, "but they would not suffer criticism of the cause of independence" (63).  I think this is one area where we have changed.  I took a seminar in Christian ethics course once entitled "Seminar in Christian Ethics and Economic Justice for All" in which we attempted to find a better form of government than the U.S. democracy.  All the ones we found that eliminated the problems in the U.S. also eliminated independence.  Many of my fellow students felt, in weighing the costs and benefits, it would be worth the loss of independence to have a healthy, well-fed population.  In fact, independence was not a concern mentioned at all and socialism and communism were weighed solely based on their economic successes.  I think the ideologies of Independence Brown discusses, and the American exceptionalism, patriotism, and "tyranny of the majority" (Tocqueville 64) found in other readings are changing.  Once  we had no other tyranny to rebel against, a victory afterglow and westward expansion held Americans together.  Then patriotism and exceptionalism and the American dream.  Now we wonder if there is a better system of government and study and discuss and attempt to bind people together in the common goal of spreading democracy.  I would much rather focus on celebrating Independence, but I suppose we have already had that party and the cake has gotten stale.
             
We still strive to create a "correctly informed citizenry" (68) (whatever that means for whoever is informing whichever group at the time), and we strive to be informed (in a way and on subjects that may be less related to social aspirations on a class level and more to social aspirations on a person to person level).  But can we argue the "tyrannous majority" has less control over privileged perspectives presented in publication (mmmm... p's) than in early American print culture?  The Internet does not protect us from this-- Google is hierarchical in nature, presenting the popular and paid for first.  Though more voices have outlets, do they have audience?  And a "correctly informed" audience at that?

So....witches.

I have written a few papers on witch and vampire traditions, so I know quite a lot about historic representations, but I found a couple of new stories:

I ended up looking for vampires instead after finding a piece about the Malay tradition of carrying around a little, witch/ vampire/ devil hybrid which grants beauty to women in exchange for blood. These Polong are worn in a small, finger sized vial around the neck, and fed weekly by cutting a finger and inserting it into the container.  If they are not fed weekly, they will emerge and drain all the blood from the wearer.  It is a bit like a vampire, but also like a devil's pact in which one sells one's soul for a temporary, earthly price. 
The Penangalan is a bit more like our version of a witch and inhabits a female body, but can leave it to fly about and wreak havoc.  This one also drinks blood and is in cahoots with the devil.

The Atheneum; or, Spirit of the English Magazines (1817-1833);

Nov 15, 1820; 8, 4)
In another article, "THE TRAVELLER.: THE VAMPIRE SUPERSTITION."American Masonic Register and Literary Companion (1839-1847); Sep 2, 1843; 4, 52, the author describes in detail the superstitions surrounding vampire lore.  It is mostly what we already know like stakes through hearts and pale skin, but it talks a bit more about the signs a corpse is a vampire like hair and finger nails continuing to grow.  This article actually mentions another source's attempts to give scientific explanation of the "signs" of a vampire like an excess of saltpeter in the body.  The author doesn't seem to think these explanations quite satisfy the vampire myth, but then again, neither do I. 

(From: MALAY DEMONS AND WITCHES.: THE POLONG.

Exotic Erotic

You can lose yourself in the results of a key word search through early American periodical poetry-- especially when your keyword is  "Arabian" and you time period 1820- 1860.  I was struck by the focus on romantic and erotic love depicted both in poems attributed to Arab men, and in poems written by American women with a self-proclaimed Arabic theme.  For one thing, I was surprised at the men and women who considered themselves expert enough after traveling amongst Arabs, to title their poems "Arab Song."  Further, the sexualized characters in the poetry written by women surprised me.  Were they simply mimicking other Arabic poems?  Or was the title "Arabic Song" a safeguard, allowing them to write in a different character and thus not bound by social expectations?  Many of the poems praise women and romantic love, depicting the love interest as a precious jewel, flower, and reason for man's living.  The poems seem excessively romantic compared to other poems (even romantic British Victorian poems) and the sexual nature of the woman characters attractions seems less covert than the typical vague garden and fruit references in Victorian poetry.  While other poems speak of an imaginary garden existing separate of the woman subject, these poems place the garden image as a part of the woman in a much less subtle way.  Or maybe I'm just reading too much into them.

With all that said, I chose to look at a collection of several Arabic poems which appear crammed on a page in the Christian Spectator Apr 1, 1825 edition.  Entitled "Specimens of Arabian Poetry" this page collects several incongruous poems including: "On Moderation in Our Pleasures," "On Avarice," "To a Friend on His Birthday," and "On a Cat That Was Killed as She Was Attempting to Rob a Dove House."  The first of these poems is attributed to Abou Alcassim Eben Tabataba and has a very different tone than the romantic poems I found at first.  In fact, all of these poems seem to be a direct rebuttal of the "othering" of Arabic people which occurs in the erotic and exotic romantic poems.  In the first poem, the poet seems rational and fair, focused on monogamy and marriage rather than sexual pleasure in the first poem (an idea supported by Arabic symbols like a allusion to the wedding lamp, which is explained and underscored in an editorial footnote).  In the second poem, by Hatem Tai (noted to be a generous Arabic chief) expounds on the temporary state of wealth-- a "you can't take it with you argument" which aligns neatly with Christian notions of charity and greed.  The third poem "To a Friend on His Birthday," is short and sweet, depicting a kind of a toast to a friend, but with the caution to live "that at thy parting hour" your friends weep at your loss and you are rewarded or dressed in smiles after death.  The final poem is, admittedly, the reason I selected this group.  Any poem on the death of a cat is tops in my book.  But this one is spoiled a bit by another editorial footnote (the editor really wants us to see the moral implications of these poems, I think.  As a side note, the notes' font is larger than that of the poems... take that as you will).  This note states: "The occasion of these verses and their real intent are variously related: but the opinion generally received is that they were composed by Abou Beor as an elegy, on the death of a friend who owed his ruin to the rash gratification of a headstrong passion."  Really ruins the poem for me with that heady moral attached.  In the poem, the narrator has a very jovial, humorous tone, sad about his loss of a cat, but accepting that she had to die because of her behavior.  That is really scary, actually.  Especially if we imagine the poem is symbolic of other particular life errors or sins.  The idea that we just have to accept death as the punishment for falling for temptation seems a bit heavy for poetry.  But what does this mean about the religious doctrine of the Christian Spectator?     

More questions:
What was the goal of the Christian Spectator in presenting this alternative view of Arabic culture which is so closely aligned with Christian values? Why are they called specimens?  Is this a reaction against the erotic nature of other examples?  Is the Christian Spectator capitalizing on the fascination with the exotic Arabian in order to present Christain values and refute immoral insinuations of other texts?

Reading in a Haze

When I was a freshman in high school, I got mono (who didn't, right?) and was locked in my room for about three months with a high fever.  All I could do was read-- TV hurt my head, and this was before high school students had their own computers (I'm old).  So I read A LOT. And for some reason, I read things that are weird and upsetting even if your fever doesn't cause you to imagine you are a character in the story.  Because of this, I remember Wuthering Heights in a very real, physical way and I went through a very strange depression while reading the book.  It was like it took over my life-- like a waking dream or a haunting.  I still love the book, but I think my parents were unaware of how my reading was effecting me and how Gothic literature can seem to a feverish fourteen year old. Lets just say I can sympathize with the "brain fever" that so often plays a role in eighteenth and nineteenth century plots. 

I had a bit of a fever again recently, when we were choosing our articles on Barbary pirates, and this may have been why I was drawn to a poem entitled "Old and Young.: REUBEN JAMES" By William W. Gay. This poem appears in The Independent ... Devoted to the Consideration of Politics, Social and Economic Tendencies, His... Jan 29, 1880.  This poem chronicles a battle between Barbary pirates off the coast of "Afric" (it even calls the pirates "Moslem"), and a famed seaman.  Though it is out of our date range, I chose it to get a later perspective on the Barbary Pirates, some "seventy years ago and more/ in our nation's early life," and because the imagery stayed with me in a very Wuthering Heights fever sort of way.  For one thing, the main character, Reuben James, seems to be completely crippled; in fact, his injuries seem to cover every part of his body mentioned.  I imagined him with an eye patch and two peg legs and two peg arms like the pirate on Family Guy. Also, I don't know if it the rhyme scheme or the fever, but the text seems much more graphic than I expected.  Maybe the rhyme makes the violent imagery seem jovial and thus shocking, or maybe this poem really is shockingly violent and gory, even to my modern, desensitized ears/eyes/imagination.  Either way, it is the type of poem that makes you feel as if you are standing on the deck of a ship, being splashed by blood, hearing the screams of the men fighting around you.  What I am curious about is how this poem has changed or reinterpreted the facts after seventy years or more, about the racial implications of the "Moslem" pirates, and about the focus on Reuben's crippled body and ability to fight.  Is he a martyr in a way?  And if so, what is he a martyr for?  Is he the ideal man? Disability criticism may have a field day with this one as well. 

Searching Vague British Pejoratives in American Periodicals

You will hear enough from me about Davidson today I am sure, so...

We all have gaps in our knowledge, and some appear more gaping than others.  Only a semester ago, I realized that I had mis-defined a term I had heard in my early life.  You may recall the chimney sweep scene in the Disney movie Mary Poppins?  In this scene, the children and Mary are one the roof with Burt who calls out to the other chimney sweeps in town.  They pop out of various and sundry chimneys for an exciting dance number.  In the scene, hundreds of chimney sweeps are singing and dancing on the roof, covered in soot.  The captain, known for firing his cannon twice a day precisely on time, notices the dancing men and exclaims "Its the Hottentots!" before firing several shots at the chimney sweeps.  As a child, I somehow determined that Hottentots were Germans.  It seemed logical to me since several other children's movies mentioned British wars with Germany and invasions.  I never associated the "black-face" costumes of the chimney sweeps as being significant markers of racial difference, or misleading to the Captain.  I simply picked a villain that made most sense to me in the cultural context of England between world wars.

I discovered in my feminist theories class that Hottentot was a term applied to Africans as we read British descriptions of the physical differences between the British and Africans.  I still think it sounds more like a term for Nazis or something.  Anyway, I decided to search for this term along with American terms like "negroes" and "slaves" to see what different articles would use this term.  I also searched for "Quakers" in conjunction with these terms.  I found several missionary accounts of African travels and conversions, but the one I settled on was the description of a meeting between Dutch speaking, converted  "Hottentots" and a young, African slave in the U.S.  The converted "Hottentots" were visiting a church, and a young African boy came in to observe them.  The women swooped down on him with warm embraced and a translator questioned him about his religion.  They were surprised that he was not religious, even though he has had the opportunities provided by living in this country.  This seems to be a statement on the missionary work which had been more successful abroad than at home, but it may also be an attempt to point out the value of religion to slaves and slave owners in the community. 

With these search terms, I also found a review of a book written about travels in Virginia.  While the review is negative overall, it copies letters which the author collected for his book, and these letters discuss slavery and racial and religious assumptions from different people in Virginia and surrounding areas.  Since I am interested in letters which appear in periodicals, these letters may appear in later blogs in more detail.  I also found a long (39 page) article discussing the reason Africans and Americans had different skin tones and the reasons for the variety of skin tones amongst Africans.  This article responds to another article which outlines the main reasons to be heat or climate, but also mentions religious or social beliefs and behavior as other causes of difference.  If you are interested in the body and othering through physical differences, this article could be helpful.  It is, of course, disturbing as well.     

Seduction and Transatlantic Perceptions

Dr. Robbins recently referred me to Revolution and the Word for my exam list and dissertation interest, and after reading the introduction, I am terribly excited to read on!  The subject is helping me expand my thoughts on the ways novels present marriage and seduction tales in eighteenth century American (and British, and transatlantic texts)!

I love it when a plan comes together!

So far, I have found myself reading with excitement, then getting bored, and then excited again when novels are mentioned (single focused much? I know).  I was particularly interested in Davidson's discussion of the choice writers made to even use the genre of the novel as their platform, and I wonder how the reality which novels perform in their fiction changed the ways readers thought about American culture.  Did British readers read these novels and believe that America similar or different in their views about seduction, for example?  What did they perceive or misconstrue about women's rights and slavery from reading these novels?  Since we know Charlotte Temple was read on both sides of the pond, in what ways did the cultural identity of America and Britain differ, and how did it change British perception? 

I am thinking specifically of two examples dealing with seduction that seem to respond to American identity:

Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders:  Moll is seduced early in the novel, "ruined" and forced to marry for security.  In the end of the novel, she finds redemption and wealth in America.  Was Defoe using the American dream to promote an escape for fallen women?  Or did he believe that the new country still had the opportunity to form itself as different (and better) than Britain when it came to opportunities for women? 

A periodical article I discovered in a British ladies magazine in which a widowed American ex-patriot in Britain sues a gentleman for seducing her daughter with promises of marriage... and she wins 1000 lbs.  The fact that she is an American and her husband was an American soldier is emphasized in the article.  In what ways does the American identity of the victims and the unexpected outcome of seduction (trial and award of money vs. death of victim and mother) respond to the ways female seduction was presented in early American novels?  What does it say about British perception of American cultural identity?  If seduction in novels stands for the dissonance in the new republic, what does it stand for in British literature influenced by these works?

Just some thought I am playing with for now!

Shoot.  I got distracted and forgot to talk about the "red man."  Maybe in another post....

                                        ***************************


So I tried to post this as a reply to Emilee, but for some reason I couldn't get it to post:

I must admit two things:

I highlighted a lot on page 18 as well.

And, I admit to calling someone un-American once. My ex requested a burger with no cheese, and because I think there is something terribly wrong with avoiding cheese on a burger without the excuse of lactose sensitivity, and because I personally love cheese on a burger, I took him not wanting cheese personally (or patriotically).

Oh the shame!

Anyway, Davidson has also made me think about the ways "our" flippant or pat responses to disagreements (or people with different or new ideas) as "un-American" has made me think about ways cultural identity is established in other countries as well. For those of you in the Victorian periodicals class, I'm thinking of Franklin Blake's competing cultural identities and the privileging of the British identity. So I suppose Americans aren't exceptional in this behavior either!

Sorry if their are typos in this response... I can't see the computer screen well from atop this soap box..

September 20, 2011 9:24 AM

Phase 3 of My Relationship With Starr, and Pro Celibacy Propaganda, a Bachelor's Take

You know when you meet a new person for the first time, but realize that it isn't actually the first time?  When you realize that you met her before, but she looked totally different to you then (before you knew her well)?  There is a moment when your perception of someone changes and you suddenly "really" see them for the first time, and though you remember the other person you knew, this new person will never look like her again.  People can become more or less attractive after these moments of knowing, or simply become one of "your people" who you accept without need for further evaluation.  It is a strange feeling when someone you found unattractive or peripheral becomes adorable and significant, and then again when adorable becomes comfortable (and thus more significant, in a way). 

This is where Paul Starr and I are in our relationship.  At first I found his introduction dull and overly stylized; when I noticed his humor and became interested in his subject, he became witty and fascinating; when we became good friends, I barely noticed him at all, simply counted on him to continue as himself.  At this point, I don't even feel as if I am reading in the same way-- its more of a gleaning or absorbing-- and have trouble evaluating the presentation of information, or even differentiating between what I knew before and what I learned from Starr (though I thought I knew very little before...).  So I am glad to have the opportunity to write about my subject search in the periodicals (though this has been my favorite section of The Creation of the Media so far).  I have little to say other than I am fascinated by what Americans were reading and in what format at what price, and want to know more about the specific new stories and fiction Starr alludes to.

On that note, this is my week when it comes to primary research!  My interest lies in the presentation of marriage in eighteenth century literature, and I know little about the American take other than the treatment of the old maid stereotype for a conference presentation I did last year.  This time, I found something about "unmarried men" (search terms) entitled "Arguments in Favor of Celibacy" printed in The American Universal Magazine in 1797 by a man named "Misogamos" (punny!).  Good old Misogamos posits the reasons to avoid marriage: because it is expensive, women bring misery (misery is repeated frequently) and only helpful for women who find marriage beneficial.  He quotes "wise" ancients (ironically, "wise" looks a lot like "wife" in the old fashioned print!).  He argues that women are devils, have no souls, are focused on fashion and spending, obstinate, deaf to "rational argument," and blames their lack of education on their lack of interest and mental capacity.  He even goes so far as to say "if there was anything to marry but women" it might be a less miserable situation. 

However, Misogamos also points out that the nature of man requires change and argues that though women may be pleasing at first, men soon tire of the same old coat, horse, or even wife-- his only example that doesn't heap the blame on women.  Children, which he sees as the natural outcome of marriage, multiply the misery by ten for each child-- so nine children plus a wife equals one hundred and ten miseries.... not sure about his math abilities... But in case that hurts his ethos, Misogamos compares liberty to celibacy, announces "Liberty or Death!" and links marriage to slavery.  He argues that marriage, like slavery, "sinks [man] into lethargy, ignorance and apathy" and reminds us of slaves in America "possessing capacities equally good" who are far behind in knowledge because of slavery.

I would like to imagine this essay is a satire, for how can a man see the ways oppression in slavery dulls the minds of the enslaved, but not see how women were similarly oppressed by the institution of marriage and by societal expectations?  How does he overlook the fact that women were also not educated, for instance?  If it is a satire, it is too subtle to be obvious; even though I find it difficult to imagine a true misogynist would sign his name "Misogamos." Unfortunately, the name and my wounded feelings are the only arguments I have in favor of calling this a satire.

On a cheerful note, the old maid stereotype was not as pronounced at the time Misogamos published his arguments, and the term "spinster" still meant someone who spins.  This would all change in a few years and the old maid would become a common joke in periodical poems and images, helping to remind women of the importance of marriage (or their un-importance without marriage, really).  Perhaps it would be interesting to compare the increase in pro-bachelor literature and increase in anti-old maid literature?  Was there a correlation?  Or is it a conversation in periodical print?                   

Mary says I'm turning Americanist....

A difference in reading...

Is it just me, or did Starr really hit his stride in chapters two and three?  I feel terrible for judging him as "dry" after reading the introduction.  I found myself enjoying and chapter two immensely-- annotating the text, thinking of future paper topics, turning pages without realizing the distance covered-- all the markers for genuine interest and discovery in reading.  I even found myself getting huffy about the continual distractions from the reading instead of delighting in them (who knew that a man shaving in the next room could be so irritating?  Is it necessary to turn the water on and off so many times?  And full blast at that?).  I tried to blame Starr, thinking his humor wasn't as strong in the intro and Chapter One, or that his way of giving me an overview was dull, but really, I was hooked on these chapters because of what I already knew about American history coupled with new information.  Learning more about Benjamin Franklin in a setting I can relate to as a writer and reader of articles interested me, as did reading about the Quakers role in literature suppression, and the side notes about Pennsylvania German papers (my family is Pennsylvania Dutch and Mennonites) because I have some basis for situating the new information in relation to my personal experience.  Ta Da!  So I have determined I am no more evolved than the basic readers-- if it interests me, I will read it more carefully, and the things that interest me somehow have to do with me.  But I'm not crossing over from British to American focus-- I simply am American and that is enough of a connection to raise Starr in my estimation.

What connecting to readings can do for us:

Chapter Two "New Foundations" discusses the various filters through which American colonists heard about the world.  It begins with the English filter as books and news came from London.  Later, we get the filters of interest as the postmaster (Franklin!) chose to mail papers he liked (or published) rather than others.  The filter I find most interesting is the filter of accessibility for the anti-federalists (and others).  The idea that "free press" was limited by accessibility from the very beginning and that it was an issue for discussion in the same way we still battle with the privileged groups having more accessibility to press and education, surprised me.  On one hand, of course this occurred!  But on the other, I had never thought of it in this way, or that our country may have been shaped by those privileged enough to get their views out just as much as our current elections are shaped by candidates who have the wealth and power to advertise on their own behalves.  I wonder what would have been different with a more balanced "free press" or if accessibility had been sanctioned and provided in more than lip service.  And what would have happened if the reading populace had been more aware of the series of changing filters that surrounded them and altered what was available.  Since I always saw the American Revolution as a moment for the underdog to shine, I never considered the further underdog, a group which may have saved us a lot of trouble in more modern times had they been given a voice in the making of the constitution.

On a side note, my Pennsylvania Dutch family prided themselves on education- almost to a level that seemed extreme for the times, so it has been interesting to read about different group's efforts to squelch literacy and free speech.  And I will admit that a bit of my interest in this chapter stems from the excitement of watching Britain slowly lose control of the colonists, and considering what lead to this loss of control in the U.S., but not in Canada.  Very interesting thoughts!