One of the first American Gothic novels, Edgar Huntly (1787) mirrors the social and political temperaments of the postrevolutionary United States. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date...
One of the first American Gothic novels, Edgar Huntly (1787) mirrors the social and political temperaments of the postrevolutionary United Stat...
Charles Brockden Brown Fred Lewis Pattee F. L. Pattee
Narrated by Clara, the only survivor of the cursed Wieland family, this Gothic tale builds in suspense to one tragic night when Clara's brother, in a divinely inspired seizure, commits an unspeakable act. Edited and with an Introduction by Fred Lewis Pattee.
Narrated by Clara, the only survivor of the cursed Wieland family, this Gothic tale builds in suspense to one tragic night when Clara's brother, in a ...
Called a "remarkable story" by John Greenleaf Whittier and described by John Keats as "very powerful," "Wieland," Charles Brockden Brown's disturbing 1798 tale of terror, is a masterpiece involving spontaneous combustion, disembodied voices, religious mania, and a gruesome murder based on a real-life incident. This Modern Library Paperback Classic includes "Wieland"'s fragmentary sequel, "Memoirs of Carwin the Biloquist," as well as several other important but hard-to-find Brockden Brown short stories, including "Thessalonica," "Walstein's School of History," and "Death of Cicero." This...
Called a "remarkable story" by John Greenleaf Whittier and described by John Keats as "very powerful," "Wieland," Charles Brockden Brown's disturbing ...
Often described as a "gothic novel," this is a classic American tale of mystery and murder with exciting and dramatic plot twists. Charles Brockden Brown is the most frequently studied and republished practitioner of the "early American novel," or the US novel between 1789 and roughly 1820. This volume contains a critical edition of Charles Brockden Brown's Edgar Huntly, the third of his novels to be published in 1799 and the first to deal with the American wilderness. The basis of the text is the first edition, printed and published by Hugh Maxwell in Philadelphia late in the year, but the...
Often described as a "gothic novel," this is a classic American tale of mystery and murder with exciting and dramatic plot twists. Charles Brockden Br...
Arthur Mervyn has long puzzled students and scholars with its seeming diffuseness, resulting from its original serial publication. Critics agree, however, that the power of this novel lies not so much in its portrait of "right virtue, " which was Brown's primary aim, as in its realistic descriptions of the yellow fever epidemic and the ensuing panic that swept Philadelphia in the summer of 1793. The ambiguities of Arthur Mervyn's character and the precarious nature of the revolutionary 1790s make this novel a particularly apt subject for lively discussion and future scholarship and...
Arthur Mervyn has long puzzled students and scholars with its seeming diffuseness, resulting from its original serial publication. Critics ag...
"A light proceeding from the edifice made every part of the scene visible. A gleam diffused itself over the intermediate space, and instantly a loud report, like the explosion of a mine, followed. She uttered an involuntary shriek, but the new sounds that greeted her ear, quickly conquered her surprise. They were piercing shrieks, and uttered without intermission. The gleams which had diffused themselves far and wide were in a moment withdrawn, but the interior of the edifice was filled with rays." -- From Weiland, by Charles Brockden Brown
"A light proceeding from the edifice made every part of the scene visible. A gleam diffused itself over the intermediate space, and instantly a lou...
When Dr. Stevens finds a young man sitting alone in Phildelphia, he takes pity on him and invites him into his home. The young man's name is Arthur Mervyn and he is suffering from yellow fever, an illness that has swept through the city. In Dr. Stevens' care, Arthur becomes well again. Arthur is a pleasant man and they spend many hours discussing the future. However, when Mr. Whortley visits Dr. Stevens and recognizes Arthur, the serene life that was so hoped for by Arthur is brought into turmoil. For Arthur's past is not one of innocence, but one involving swindlers and lost monies.
When Dr. Stevens finds a young man sitting alone in Phildelphia, he takes pity on him and invites him into his home. The young man's name is Arthur...
In the bleak night, beneath the stretching limbs of the shadowy elm, a shot rings out -- and the hurrying Edgar Huntly arrives to find his friend Waldegrave insensate and bleeding on the ground. Who could have murdered such an honest, blameless man? Walking to his uncle's house on another gloomy night, Huntly succumbs to the impulse to revisit that fatal elm -- only to have the mystery around the murder deepen: for Huntly spies beneath the shadowed tree a robust, half-clad man digging in the earth -- and then falling to his knees and weeping Themes include sleepwalking, morality and truth...
In the bleak night, beneath the stretching limbs of the shadowy elm, a shot rings out -- and the hurrying Edgar Huntly arrives to find his friend W...
In addition to the definitive UVA text of Brown's seminal novel, this edition includes an introduction setting the work in its historical, literary, and intellectual contexts. Related texts include selections from William Godwin's "Enquiry Concerning Political Justice" (1793), Erasmus Darwin's "Zoonomia; or, The Laws of Organic Life" (1794), Benjamin Franklin's A Narrative of the Late Massacres (1764), and Thomas Barton's The Conduct of the Paxton-Men (1764), as well excerpts from Brown's own essays on somnambulism and the uses of history in fiction.
In addition to the definitive UVA text of Brown's seminal novel, this edition includes an introduction setting the work in its historical, literary...
Set during the epic Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic of 1793, Charles Brockden Brown's classic gothic novel "Arthur Mervyn; or, Memoirs of the Year 1793" connects the outbreak with the upheavals of the revolutionary era and the murderous financial networks of Atlantic slavery.
This edition of "Arthur Mervyn" offers selections from key contemporary texts as well as excerpts from Brown's own writings on slavery, race, and the uses of history in fiction.
Set during the epic Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic of 1793, Charles Brockden Brown's classic gothic novel "Arthur Mervyn; or, Memoirs of the Ye...
