Week 3: Distinctiveness of 19th Century American Novels Flashcards
Explain how American copyright law influenced the creation of art in 1891?
Prior to 1891, American copyright only protected American authors, making it cheaper for American publishers to buy European works (since they didn’t have to pay royalties)
Since American works were nearly double the cost of English works, this discouraged the creation of new work
How did American authors differentiate themselves before 1891?
Since American authors couldn’t control their price structure, they tried to sell their books through differentiation.
They differentiated themselves through theme, often writing Westerns and stories about early deaths caused by tuberculosis (stories were SENTIMENTAL).
This differed from the English themes of social class and romance.
Griswold’s explanation
the oddity of American novels in the 19th century was purely an expression of our copyright law
American novels were written in order to compete
What we were writing was different from what we were reading
*Her argument supports the production of culture sociological approach and why it tends to be suspicious of meaning (such as in reflection theory)
What happened after they changed copyright law in 1891?
More American authors wrote about romance and social class
e.g. Great Gatsby
What did Ann Douglas argue in her book, The Feminization of American culture?
She argued that America created a CULT OF SENTIMENTALITY in the 19th century after the disestablishment of the state churches. Because of this, churches now had to compete for worshippers and they did this by creating sentimentality.
Ultimately, Douglas’ argument was WRONG because she based her analysis on the novels she read and not the context that created it.
