Novels, Readers, and Reviewers

Responses to Fiction in Antebellum America

Nina Baym

• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781501726194
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: North American Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

This book describes and characterizes responses of American readers to fiction in the generation before the Civil War. It is based on close examination of the reviews of all novels—both American and European—that appeared in major American periodicals during the years 1840–1860, a period in which magazines, novels, and novel reviews all proliferated. Nina Baym makes uses of the reviews to gain information about the formal, aesthetic, and moral expectations of reviewers. Her major conclusion is that the accepted view about the American novel before the Civil War—the view that the atmosphere in America was hostile to fiction—is a myth. There is compelling evidence, she shows, for the existence of a veritable novel industry and, concomitantly, a vast audience for fiction in the 1840s and 1850s.

I

Introduction

Our literary historians tell two stories about the novel in America before the Civil War. First, our Puritan tradition, enhanced by Scottish common sense philosophy, created an atmosphere hostile to fiction. Second, the sparseness of American social life made conventional novels difficult, even impossible, to write. Together these narrative strands conduce to a single denouement. The would-be American novelist before the Civil War was drawn or forced toward a quasi-novelistic form better suited to American imaginative space—the “romance,” created in an ambience of isolation, alienation, defiance, and apology that left its traces in the work. The antebellum romances established an American tradition that persists to this day.

This powerful critical myth, which at least since the 1950s has controlled our understanding of the novel in America, does not hold up well under empirical investigation of prevailing historical conditions. For one thing, expressed hostility to fiction was no less strong in England than in America; much of what Americans wrote and said about novels was derived from English sources. Scottish common sense philosophy should not be described as an American phenomenon. Second, the “conventional” novel at that time was only in the process of becoming conventional. Third, a great many novels were written and published in America at this time of supposed hostility to fiction, and a great many more were being read. In the American reviews of novels that form the basis of this study, about eight hundred separate titles received individual attention and about half of these were American in origin. Nor were American works received adversely by the reviewers. On the contrary, those on the magazine staffs who set themselves up as guardians of critical integrity complained about indiscriminate puffery among reviewers rather than the opposite. The America into which Hawthorne launched The Scarlet Letter and Melville launched Moby-Dick was a nation of novel readers. The essential premise on which our history of the American novel is based, that the nation was hostile to fiction, is demonstrably incorrect.

This book attempts to chronicle actual American thinking about novels. It is based on reviews of individual novels—any novels—that appeared in major American periodicals, chiefly between 1840 and 1860. The 1840s in America were the time when the periodical press came into its own. Whereas, according to Frank Luther Mott’s History of American Magazines, there were fewer than 125 American magazines in 1825, by 1850 there were about 600, with most of the expansion occurring in the 1840s. Many of these magazines were local or specialized in their appeal, but a few dozen, by virtue of their circulation, influence, or national scope, are properly called “major.” Some journals passed the 100,000 subscriber mark in the 1850s (a number that would extrapolate to over a million today), including Harper’s, Godey’s, Peterson’s, and the Ledger, while Horace Greeley’s Tribune in the aggregate of daily and weekly editions surpassed 200,000 in 1858. None of the journals I have used fell below 5,000 paid subscriptions during their strong years, which would bring them into the contemporary range of The New Yorker and the New York Review. Not all of the national magazines carried novel reviews, or even book reviews, but most did. My sources are the more than two thousand novel reviews I found that make some attempt, occasionally in only a sentence but often much more, at description and evaluation. By 1850 the vocabulary available for writing about novels was extensive, flexible, and sophisticated, a sign that the novel had entered the world of intellectual discourse.

The periodicals on which I draw, ordered according to the number (not necessarily the complexity or richness) of reviews from most to least include:

1. Godey’s Lady’s Book (hereafter Godey’s). Issued monthly in Philadelphia between 1830 and 1898; published by Louis A. Godey and edited chiefly by Godey and Sarah J. Hale. It avoided politics and current events, containing mostly stories, poems, and sketches, and had numerous engravings, colored fashion plates, patterns, recipes, and household hints. A woman’s magazine with a national circulation, early issues were about thirty-two pages long, but by the 1850s a number usually ran to ninety-six pages or more. (Growth in the size of individual issues is characteristic of other journals of the period as well and is evidence, along with the increasing number of periodicals, of their success.)

2. Peterson’s Magazine (hereafter Peterson’s). Issued monthly in Philadelphia between 1842 and 1898, at first under other names. Published by Charles J. Peterson and edited chiefly by Peterson, but also by the popular writer Ann Sophia Stephens between 1842 and 1853. It was a woman’s magazine similar in scope and appearance to Godey’s. It made a greater point, however, of publishing work by women as well as work of interest to them, boasting from time to time that contributions in a given issue were entirely from women.

3. Harper’s New Monthly Magazine (hereafter Harper’s). Published monthly in New York City by Harper and Brothers publishing house from 1850 on. It began as an “eclectic” journal, that is, a magazine reprinting material published elsewhere, especially in British journals, and it popularized the serialization of fiction in America. It soon modulated to a magazine of general interest using original American contributions along with its foreign borrowings, and it featured monthly narratives of current events, foreign affairs, and literary intelligence as well as a variety of editorial features: the Editor’s Table, a serious monthly editorial; the Editor’s Chair, a more genial and informal editorial; and the Editor’s Drawer, a potpourri of reader contributions. It was lavishly illustrated but had no women’s features as such. Its issues often ran over a hundred pages; it was the most ambitious and successful journal of the decade. It led to format alterations in several of its competitors and forced some others out of business.

4. The Literary World. Issued weekly in New York City between February 1847 and December 1853. Published and edited chiefly by E. A. and G. L. Duyckinck, it was a successor to their literary nationalist Arcturus but was much less stridently nationalist in tone. It was a large-format journal of sixteen to twenty-four pages per issue, featuring a great deal of book advertising (almost none of the other journals carried advertising), literary gossip, and numerous reviews.

5. The Knickerbocker Magazine (hereafter Knickerbocker). Published monthly in New York City from 1833 to It had many publishers and editors, most prominently Lewis Gaylord Clark from 1834 to 1860 with his brother, Willis Gaylord Clark, as associate from 1834 to 1841. A magazine of general interest for and about New Yorkers, featuring opinion, literature, and reviews; its opinions and essays were reprinted around the nation in other journals.

6. The North American Review (hereafter the North American). Published quarterly in Boston from 1815 to the twentieth century. The most “serious” American magazine, determined to establish an American intellectual presence and to lead educated public opinion. It was made up chiefly of long review essays, though in time it added a section of briefer reviews as well; its tone was scholarly (many of its contributors were academics) and its influence immense, since the editors of many other journals read it.

7. Graham’s Magazine (hereafter Graham’s). Published monthly in Philadelphia from 1826 to 1858. A beautifully illustrated magazine of general interest directed toward women, though with a broader scope than Godey’s or Peterson’s. It had many editors, most importantly George R. Graham.

8. Putnam’s Monthly Magazine (hereafter Putnam’s). Published monthly in New York City from 1853 t0 1857 as an alternative to Harper’s for the more highly educated. Its initial readership was based on the subscription list of the defunct Whig American Review (see below). The journal was discontinued in 1857, a victim of the Panic of that year, and did not resume publication until 1868.

9. The New York Tribune (hereafter the Tribune). Published daily in New York City from 1841 into the twentieth century; edited from its inception until after the Civil War by Horace Greeley. It began as a large-format four-page publication, expanding to eight and then twelve pages in the 1850s. A weekly edition, designed for the nation, carried its opinions throughout the country.

10. The Southern Literary Messenger. Published monthly in Richmond from 1834 to 1864 with various editors and publishers, it attempted to speak for the educated South, addressing the North and the South.

11. The Christian Examiner. Published bimonthly in Boston between 1824 and 1869; a Unitarian journal, written by clergyman contributors and specializing in lengthy reviews of theological works but containing more general review essays as well. It had various publishers and editors including William Ware (1839–1844), George Putnam (1849–1857), and Frederick Henry Hedge and Edward Everett (1857–1861).

12. The Ladies’ Repository. Published monthly in Cincinnati between 1841 and 1876, it was the leading Methodist journal and was directed toward women. It eschewed the frivolous; its illustrations were not fashion plates or domestic scenes but landscapes and portraits of leading Methodist ministers.

13. The New York Mirror (hereafter the Mirror). Published weekly from 1823 to 1842; a lively New York City magazine widely read by editors of other journals, though its general tone and approach became dated in the 1840s.

14. The American Review, a Whig Journal (hereafter the American Review). Published monthly in New York City between 1845 and 1852, when it went down with its party. A journal of politics and current events including literary essays and some imaginative literature as well.

15. The Home Journal. Published weekly in New York City from 1846 to the twentieth century; between 1846 and 1864 edited chiefly by the popular magazine writer Nathaniel P. Willis. An eight- or twelve-page, large-format family-centered journal.

16. The United States Magazine and Democratic Review (hereafter the Democratic Review). Published monthly, at first in Washington and then in New York City, from 1837 to 1859. It had various editors, chiefly John Louis O’Sullivan, a friend and booster of Hawthorne’s, and was a political magazine of opinion and current events. Although it published much of Hawthorne’s work in the 1840s, it contained little other imaginative writing.

17. Sartain’s Union Magazine (hereafter Sartain’s). Published monthly in New York between 1847 and 1852. Its chief publisher was John Sartain, an engraver, and it contained more essays and features about art than any other journal of the time. It was edited chiefly by Sartain, by the popular writer Caroline Kirkland, and by John S. Hart, a professor and compiler of anthologies. In format it resembled Godey’s and Peterson’s, and like them it defined its audience as mainly women. It was unable to survive the competition of these magazines and Harper’s.

18. The New York Review. Published quarterly in New York City from 1837 to 1842, it was meant to attain the quality of the North American from a more conservative stance and had a loose Episcopalian association. It had various editors and publishers.

19. Arthur’s Home Magazine (hereafter Arthur’s). Published monthly in Philadelphia between 1852 and 1898, at first by Timothy Shay Arthur, a didactic writer.

20. The Atlantic Monthly (hereafter the Atlantic). Published monthly in Boston from 1857 to the twentieth century and intended as Boston’s answer to Harper’s. It had various publishers and editors, including James Russell Lowell from 1857 to 1861. Its late inaugural date explains the small number of reviews I use from this source, but from the 1860s on it was an important vehicle of critical opinion on literary works and other cultural matters.

21. The New York Ledger (hereafter the Ledger). Published weekly from 1847 to 1898, its chief editor from 1851 to 1887 was Robert Bonner. It was the nation’s most popular fiction weekly, attaining a circulation of 400,000 by 1860, and featured exciting serialized novels, lively columnists, and entertaining fillers. It had a large format, running about twelve pages an issue. Book reviews appeared only occasionally, usually touting a Ledger contributor; Bonner explained that the periodical reviewed few books because few were worth reviewing. Little essays on fiction, however, were frequent fillers.

Taken together, these journals represent a diversity of opinions and interests. They share the characteristics, important for my study, of being general rather than specialized publications and of aiming for and achieving a wide circulation. The opinions they expressed were directed toward, but also responsive to, the views and interests of their supposed readers. Of course a review does not necessarily represent the notions of anybody except its author, and even numbers of congruent reviews may express only the opinions of a particular group of interested people. This caveat, with respect to accepting reviewer opinion as representative of public opinion more generally, was articulated by William Charvat some time ago. But novel reviewing, I have found, was directed toward readers, was conducted in constant awareness of what people were reading, and was always trying to understand the reasons for public preferences. The reviews offer guidance and correction in a way that enables us to see what they thought they were guiding and correcting.

Reviewing, like magazines themselves, began in America because it had begun in England. In the early years of the nineteenth century, reviews tended to be long and to include lengthy extracts from the books being considered. In the context of few and expensive books, these reviews served many as substitutes for reading the book itself. Between 1830 and 1840 in the United States the publishing scene changed dramatically: improvements in papermaking, typesetting, and printing machinery, along with the railroad and the steamboat, put books within the physical and financial reach of a vast segment of an increasingly literate population. The 1840s in particular were the decade of “cheap books,” when, for example, a reprint of Bulwer’s Zanoni was available for only six cents. The nature of reviewing changed: long extracts were not necessary, and reviews became more essaylike. But the very large number of reviewable books called for concision; the essay...

Table of contents

• Preface
• 1. Introduction
• 2. The Triumph of the Novel
• 3. Novel Readers and Novel Reading
• 4. Plot, the Formal Principle
• 5. Character
• 6. Aspects of Narration
• 7. Aspects of the Narrator
• 8. The Novel as a Picture of Nature
• 9. Morality and Moral Tendency
• 10. Classes of Novels
• 11. Romances, Historical Novels, National Novels
• 12. Authors
• 13. Conclusion
• Bibliographical Note
• Index