An Autumn visit with Early American Authors

With the season comes a look back at classic ‘autumn’ fare, like pumpkin-spiced everything, and wishes for the beauty of lovely falling leaves.  As a native New Yorker (remember, it’s a big, rural state), I feel October is generally the perfect representation of autumn. It’s also a perfect time to look at the contributions of two authors who head the list of great American writers, for they are two of the earliest to gain popular success and open a window into our colonial history.

Cooper via Wikipedia

James Fenimore Cooper was born in 1789 in New Jersey but moved at an early age with his large Quaker family to the Hudson River valley (now upstate New York) where his father began a settlement he named Cooperstown.  James was well-educated, and as the 11^th of 12 children benefited from an easy time of it at home. After James served a number of years in the U.S. Navy, he came home to a decent income after his father’s death. James Cooper was devoted to history and writing, and he was the first to use the American Revolution as setting. “The Spy” was based on his loyalist wife’s family history, but his series “Leatherstocking Tales”, in 1823, will always be his best known. The public was fascinated with this look ‘back’ at the French and Indian War era. “Last of the Mohicans” published in 1826 continues to be  his most well known novel.

Cooper Statue, in Cooperstown, NY . Wikipedia

In later years, his writing became a more idealized look at early American life.  He became quite involved in intellectual community and kept company with William Cullen Bryant, Samuel Finley Breese Morse, and James Kent. With such a background, it’s no surprise he became highly political near the end of his life.

http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/thomas-cole/scene-from-the-last-of-the-mohicans-cora-kneeling-at-the-feet-of-tanemund-1827

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Washington Irving was born in 1783 in New York City.  He was always interested in writing and wrote many serialized stories for newspapers even as he studied law.  He passed the bar in 1806 but preferred writing, even when he took a turn serving during the War of 1812.  In 1819-20, his published work “The Sketch Book” became a huge success and included “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”.

Washington Irving (Wikipedia)

Later in life, Washington Irving put a huge amount of research into much more serious works and published  “A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus”,  “Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada”, and “Tales of the Alhambra”. Irving served the U.S. Government for three years in London. His next works added a frontier theme with “Astoria” (about John Jacob Aster’s fur company), and “The Adventures of Captain Bonneville".  If you’re like me, you’ve never heard of these publications!

Irving, (Wikipedia)

Hopefully schoolchildren continue to learn about these two early American authors and their works. I just wonder if they will remember more than…the headless horseman!

• Public Domain
• File:John Quidor - The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane - Google Art Project.jpg

 I love the history of my area and visiting the Leatherstocking area of New York State any time of year. Have a wonderful Autumn season wherever you are!
Debra

Guest Author Interview: Michelle Griep

September's here! Which means I finally get to introduce you to brand-new colonial fiction read The Captive Heart by Michelle Griep ... and the story that sparked several of my research posts from earlier this year. This beauty releases October 1, and I'll be posting my review next month, but for now I'm so excited to share this special guest interview with the author.

First, the book:

Proper English governess Eleanor Morgan flees to the colonies to escape the wrath of a brute of an employer. When the Charles Town family she’s to work for never arrives to collect her from the dock, she is forced to settle for the only reputable choice remaining to her—marriage to a man she’s never met. Trapper and tracker Samuel Heath is a hardened survivor used to getting his own way by brain or by brawn, and he’s determined to find a mother for his young daughter. But finding a wife proves to be impossible. No upstanding woman wants to marry a murderer.

Thank you so much for being with us today, Michelle! After writing medieval and Viking-age historical, contemporary, and ending up in the Regency era, what got you interested in the colonial time period?

Trappers, actually. I live in the frozen tundra of Minnesota but even here there were voyageurs and trappers that roamed the area. One of my favorite things to do is go to the annual River Rendezvous, a living history reenactment of Natives and trappers and rugged colonists.

What inspired your latest colonial work?

An Anglophile at heart, usually I write stories based in England. But during the Colonial period, lots of British criminals (some truly guilty, others innocent) were transported to America as punishment. Others crossed the ocean as indentured servants, signing away their freedom when they landed in the hopes of creating a better life. I got to wondering what it would be like to have your freedom taken away, and so The Captive Heart was born.

Do you have a favorite colonial place you like to visit and why?

I love the South Carolina backcountry. Stunning scenery. Awesome hiking. And loads of history. It’s hard to choose just one place when there are so many, but I’m going to go with Brattonsville, a living history museum in York County. Besides the setting, I love the historical guides that are stationed at each building. You could seriously spend days here, learning everything from blacksmithing to open fire cooking.

If you care to say, you can tell readers where you live and what colonial places you have in your state or your home state if different.

It’s a little later than the Colonial period, but the North West Company Fur Post (circa 1804) is a fun place to visit. You’ll met French voyageurs, British fur traders and visit an Ojibwe encampment. It’s located just outside of Pine City, Minnesota (about an hour north of Minneapolis/St. Paul).

Do you have a favorite colonial recipe you enjoy and would like to share with readers?

Apple Fritters

Pare some apples and cut them in thin slices, put them in a bowl, with a glass of brandy, some white wine, and quarter of a pound of powdered sugar, a little cinnamon finely powdered and the rind of a lemon grated: let them stand some time, turning them over frequently; beat two eggs very light, add one quarter a pound of flour, a tablespoonful of melted butter, and as much cold water as will make a thin batter; drip the apples on a sieve, mix them with the batter, take one slice with a spoonful of butter to each fritter, fry them quick, of a light brown, drain them well, put them in a dish, sprinkling sugar over each, and glaze them nicely.

— Randolph, Mary. “The Virginia Housewife.” pg.155.

About Michelle:  I hear voices. Loud. Incessant. And very real. Which basically gives me two options: choke back massive amounts of Prozac or write fiction. I've been writing since I discovered blank wall space and Crayolas. I seek to glorify God in all that I write--except for that graffiti phase I went through as teenager.

Michelle's impressive list of titles includes medieval and Viking-age time travel, gothic Regency, and even contemporary. Check her out at michellegriep.com!

Early Novels, Authors and the Publishing Industry

In the early days of publishing, our U.S. Articles of Confederation gave no provision for copyright and left the States to address the issue individually. Authors were forced to copyright their work in each state to ensure complete protection of their work. This practice continued until 1790 when Congress finally enacted a national copyright law under the Constitution. The law protected American writers for 28 years, but gave no protection to foreign writers.

Publishing boomed over the next 40 years, and here in America, European books went into piracy on a large scale. Popular novels like Tom Jones and Robinson Crusoe were reprinted and sold many times over in early America without a penny paid to their foreign authors. Philadelphia was the center of publishing, with a dozen or so smaller towns like Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, also publishing books.

Susanna Rowson

This left American writers at a significant disadvantage. Foreign books came free to publishers and were generally considered of a higher standard than American works. The runaway bestseller of its day was Charlotte Temple by British author, Susanna Rowson. Young colonial ladies blushed and wept over its tragic, romantic plotline and slept with it under their pillows. First published in America in 1794, the novel ran through 200 editions.

Some American writers did manage to get recognized. Attorney and statesman, William Wirt, of Virginia wrote The Letters of a British Spy, which quickly became a bestseller in 1803 and later went on to write a biography of Founding Father, Patrick Henry. By the late 1820s, Nathaniel Hawthorne had begun jotting his first lines in Salem and Henry David Thoreau was observing nature in Concord, but it was in New York City that American literature first came onto its own with author Washington Irving.

Washington Irving

 In 1809, he wrote the satire, Knickerbocker’s History of New York. The book’s gaiety and charm was not exactly what the editors were anticipating, but it made its mark as early American literature, nonetheless. Washington’s short story, Sleepy Hollow, is still wildly popular today and is one of my all-time favorites, in all its forms, from the original book to movies and television.

Headless Horseman chases Ichabod Crane

Lisa Norato is the multi-published author of Prize of My Heart, an inspirational, seafaring historical from Bethany House, set during the Federal era. A life-long New Englander, Lisa lives in a historic village with homes and churches dating as far back as the eighteenth century.