Synopses & Reviews
Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: tnind.. This new shock brought me one more (o the brink of $e grave., and my malady was much more difficult to subdue than at first. ,,.,. , 1'ri will not dwell upon the long train bfadreary sensations, and the hideous confusion of my understanding. Time slowly restored its customary firmness oitAy frame, and order to my thoughts. The images impressed upon my mind 'ty this fatal paper were somewhat effaced by my malady. They were obscure and disjointed like the parts of a dream. I was desirous of freeing my imagination from this chaos. T For this end I questioned my uncle, ..who was my constant companion. He. was intimidated by the issue of his first experiment, and took pains .to elude or discourage my inquiry. My iuipetuo- ity sonie times compelled him to have 'resort to misrepresentations and untruths. .. . Time effected that end, perhaps, in a more beheieianhiiner; In the course of my meditations the recoilectitms tff the past gradually became more distinct. I revolved them, However, in silence, 'and being-no longer-accompanied with surprise, they did not exercise a death- dealing power. I had discontinued the 'perusal of the paper in the midst ofthfr narrative; but what I read, combined with information elsewhere obtained, iSAirew, perhaps, a sufficient light upon these detestable transactions; yet my Curiosity Was not inactive. I desired ?J to peruse the Remainder. - -i. r ' My eagerness o know the particulars of this tale was mingled and abated by my antipathy to the scene which would be disclosed. Hence I employed no means to effect my purpose. I desired know ledge, and, at the same time, shrunk back frem receiving the boon. One morning, being left alone, I: from my bed, and went to a id rawer where my finer clothing used to be kept. I ...
Synopsis
A major influence on Poe and Hawthorne, this spellbinding tale of seduction, insanity, and murder represents one of America's earliest novels. Based on the true story of a religious fanatic who slaughtered his family, this proto-Gothic novel unfolds in rural Pennsylvania of the 1760s and offers compelling reflections of the era's social and political anxieties.
Synopsis
Set in rural Pennsylvania in the 1760s and based on the true story of a religious fanatic who slaughtered his family, this Gothic milestone offers compelling reflections of the colonial era's social and political anxieties.
Synopsis
Based on a terrifying real-life incident, this tale of seduction, insanity, and murder is one of America's earliest novels. It unfolds in rural Pennsylvania of the 1760s, where a religious fanatic massacres several members of his family. Part thriller and part psychological drama, it explores the corruption of law and order within a small community.
The American Gothic style of author Charles Brockden Brown combines intellectual and supernatural elements — a literary mode that influenced later authors such as Poe and Hawthorne. Wieland, his best-known work, was acclaimed by John Keats as "very powerful" and by John Greenleaf Whittier as "a remarkable story." Interpreted variously as a historical parable, an allegorical view of the writing process, and a cautionary tale of unbridled religious fervor, this novel reflects the colonial era's social and political anxieties and offers intriguing glimpses of the American mood at the close of the eighteenth century.
About the Author
Born in Philadelphia and raised in a Quaker family, Charles Brockden Brown (1771-1810) wrote short stories, essays, poetry, reviews, and historical surveys. The most ambitious, prolific, and accomplished of America's early novelists, Brown is also the most frequently studied and published.