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Alexis Young
Charles Brockden Brown: Who Are You?
Before this class, I had never heard of Charles Brockden Brown. My interest was
sparked when I realized that his name was scattered throughout the course site
and piqued when the professor suggested that he was “Poe before Poe”. I began to
wonder: who was C. B. Brown and why was he so influential? The course site
details his attempt to be the first American citizen to make a career as a
novelist and distinctly developing American national literature. However, I
wanted to know why C. B. Brown stood out more prominently than other American
writers from his time and why I had not heard about him, despite his importance.
“Our Founding Novelist” by Anne Trubek discusses Brown in a light that was very
fitting for the dimness surrounding what I knew about him. The article opens by
acknowledging that there is a certain confusion associated with him. She
describes learning about Brown, as well as reading his first novel, Wieland,
with “feeling a bit of historical vertigo … a common reaction.” In
connection to the professor’s Poe comment, she calls him “the first professional
writer in America.” Wieland is rather strange; not only does the novel
tell the story of a man who murders his family, but contains instances with
ventriloquism and psychological degeneration. Through her references to multiple
critics’ comments on his work, an understanding of the mystery surrounding Brown
begins to come unearthed. Aside from his literary background, the article
includes insight on his historical background. Dabbling in more than literature,
Brown was also writing political works. Ultimately, Trubek claims that his
horror stories are “overlooked … because it is very hard to get one’s head
around.” Especially, at a time as early as his; however, the oddity found within
Wieland did not stop it from becoming “a founding text of American
Gothic.”
Much information is available on the Charles Brockden Brown Society website. The
site opens with a brief summary of Brown, stating, “Charles Brockden Brown … has
earned a general reputation as the early republic’s most ambitious and
accomplished literary figure,” before listing the various types of writing he
published. The CBBS was founded as an international scholarly organization in
order to create more interest in his work, suggesting that overlooking Brown’s
literature has been a common occurrence. Under “Brown’s Life,” more than a
simple life summary is offered. The text states, “Brown’s early life and
development are shaped on all levels by the conflicts and transformations of the
late Enlightenment and American Revolution,” which is very relevant when
considering that the other work on Brown has implied that his literature is very
reflective of society when properly assessed.
Encylopædia Britannica confirms Charles Brockden Brown as the “father of the
American novel.” His life before his major novels is summarized, similar to the
previous work on him. He came from Quaker parents and took his studies very
seriously. Eventually, he was apprentice to a lawyer in Philadelphia, but was
still strongly drawn to writing, leading him to found a literary society. He
eventually left law in pursuit of a career in literature. In regards to
Wieland, the encyclopedia states, the novel “shows the ease with which
mental balance is lost when the test of common sense is not applied to strange
experiences.” Upon reading this, surprisingly, short entry on Brown, I was
reminded of the entire reason I initially wanted to look into him—the
importance of his influence is very apparent, but there is very little detail
surrounding his literary efforts.
To me, it seems that Charles Brockden Brown is still vague or unknown to many
people. However, I definitely feel that I have a deeper understanding of why
that is. Also, it seems as though research and work on his literature has picked
up over the last decade or so. As I learned more about Brown, I realized his
style (horror, gothic, etc.) was very strong, and very strange, when compared to
social norms of his time. Therefore, I believe that the oddity and confusion
surrounding his texts have lead to him being overlooked for so long. He was very
in tune with the political events surrounding him and the people of American,
which I think is a very important point to make in any future research,
education, etc. on Brown. If I continued my research, I would next actually read
Wieland and Edgar Huntly. Also, I would compare and contrast
Gothic literature before and after Brown’s contributions.
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