Wieland Flashcards
Who wrote Wieland?
Charles Brockden Brown
What radical philosopher was an influence on Brown?
William Godwin
What inspired Brown to write Wieland?
It was based on the true story of James Yates, who murdered his family in 1781 after hallucinating that two angels told him to do it.
What other writers from the Quals list were impressed with Wieland?
Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, John Keats, Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Wordsworth, Coleridge
What is Carwin’s particular skill?
He is a “Biloquist,” which is kind of like a super-ventriloquism, and you can perfectly imitate other people’s voices.
When was Wieland published?
1798
What form does the novel take?
It is epistolary.
Who writes the letters that frame the novel?
Clara Wieland
Who are the main characters in the novel?
- Clara Wieland
- Theodore Wieland
- Francis Carwin
- Catherine Pleyel
- Henry Pleyel
What is the full title of “Wieland”?
“Wieland - or, The Transformation”
What is Brown’s claim to literary fame?
He is often called “the first” professional American author; he is certainly one of the earliest.
During what period of time did Brown publish his best-known novels? How many of them were there?
1798-1800; Four
Of what movement is Wieland considered a founding text?
American Gothic
During what time period does the novel take place?
In the time before the American Revolution
What happens to Clara and Theodore’s father?
He dies from spontaneous combustion. After the initial spectacle, he lingers for a bit in fever and sickness before dying.
What is Brown’s religious background?
Quaker
What is “Alcuin: A Dialogue”? What inspired Brown to write it?
It is America’s first book-length text on women’s rights. Brown was inspired to write it after reading Wollstonecraft’s “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.”
What writer, closely connected with Godwin, was another major influence on Brown?
Mary Wollstonecraft
What is the name of Brown’s book-length work on women’s rights?
Alcuin: A Dialogue
What could be one reason Brown failed to reach a wide audience for his novels in America?
At the time, America was pretty down on the Arts when compared to Europe. Novel reading was believe to be a waste of time at best, and immoral at worst.
Though Brown believed novels had a great deal to teach the nation’s leader, the powerful men in charge at the time were not reading novels.
What were some social changes in Brown’s time that made writing professionally more feasible?
- Increasing literacy in England and America
- Cheaper production costs
- Lower book costs
Brown was part of a movement away from poetry as the dominant artistic form in America.
What might we label Brown’s novels (in the context of literary history)?
The first American novels of ideas
What are the two major sets of components that inform Wieland?
- Gothic elements (murder, insanity, sexual aggression, supernatural events)
- Social interests (social, political, and philosophical questions)
What two conflicting philosophies does Brown explore in Wieland?
- Christian theology (miracles, Providence, etc)
- Enlightenment (reason, order, science)
Brown’s task as a novelist of ideas was to create a narrative situation for exposing the flaws of both.
In what way are Clara and Theodore a shift from their father? What space symbolically stands for this shift in the novel?
He was fervently religious; they are much more rational.
Their father’s temple, which for him was a place of worship, and for his children is a retreat which celebrates the arts and learning.
What is the basis of Carwin’s power? What particular relevance might this have to American culture?
Language
America had “written itself into existence” through the Constitution and the Declaration; their allegiance was not to individuals, but to words.
What are the Wieland family origins?
Clara and Theodore’s father was the son of a merchant’s daughter and a disowned European aristocrat who grew up an orphan. His hard life made him turn to devout Protestantism.
Because of his religion, he moved to America, where he tried to convert some Indians before becoming a wealthy farmer/landowner. His strong religious tendencies returned when he grew older.
What was unique about the elder Wieland’s religious beliefs?
He didn’t align with any particular sect or creed. He was very devout, but it was a very personal kind of faith.
Describe the relationship between Clara, Catherine, Theodore, and Henry.
Clara and Catherine were best of childhood friends, and the trio formed a very close friendship growing up. Henry, Catherine’s brother, only enters the group late, and rather disrupts the unit that had previously existed.
What is the religion of the younger Wielands like?
It is not fervent and structured like others. They have faith, but they don’t seek to define it or wonder how they can prove it.
What is the relationship between Henry and Theodore like?
They have similar interests, but very different intellectual approaches to them. Though friends, they are constantly testing and questioning each other’s opinions.
Henry is the ultimate advocate of liberal arts/intellectual freedom, perhaps so much so that he rather pushes Wieland in the other direction.
Who is a favorite writer of Theodore? What does he spend his time doing?
Cicero; Editing/restoring Latin texts.
What is the name of the young girl who is adopted into the Wieland house? What is her story?
Miss Louisa Conway.
She was believed to be an orphan, but an English officer early in the novel appears and claims this is his daughter.
What are some notable incidences of Carwin using his ability?
- Wieland believes that Catherine is calling him from the bottom of the Hill as he heads towards the Temple to retrieve a letter.
- Wieland and Pleyel hear Catherine’s voice saying “No” in response to the idea of moving to Europe.
- Wieland and Pleyel hear a mysterious voice claiming Theresa is dead.
- Clara believes she hears thieves/murderers hiding in her closet. Her brother hears a voice saying someone is dying at his door.
- A voice wakes Clara from her nap by the river/summer-house and tells her he repents for trying to murder her.
- Henry thinks he hears confessions and sounds of a liaison between Clara and Carwin.
