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American Writers
Gold letters on black background
Spine of 1937 republication
AuthorJohn Neal
SubjectLiterary criticism
PublisherBlackwood's Edinburgh Magazine
Publication date
1824–1825
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
TextAmerican Writers at HathiTrust

American Writers is a work of literary criticism by American writer John Neal.

Background

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Blackwood engages Neal

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Color oil painting of a young white man with light brown short wavy hair and a plain countenance
John Neal in 1823, by Sarah Miriam Peale

After eight years in Baltimore, John Neal sailed to England in late 1823.[1] At that point in his life, literature scholars Edward Watts and David J. Carlson claim he was pursuing three primary goals: to supplant Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper as the leading US literary figure, usher into existence a new uniquely American literary style, and reverse British disdain for American literature.[2] To accomplish the third goal, Neal sought publication in British literary journals to expose UK readers to writing from the US and convince them of its value.[3] A "man of grievances" according to English scholar George L. Nesbitt,[4] Neal envisioned those journals as a "blazing rocket-battery" he could turn to fire upon the readership of "swarming whipper-snappers" in Great Britain.[5] Thinking highly of his own abilities, he was confident he would fast become a leading literary figure in London.[6]

Color painting of a seated white man with white hair, wearing a black jacket over a white shirt
William Blackwood c. 1830

Neal had been in England with no income for three months and funds were running low. Capitalizing on Europeans' interest in US politics sparked by recent news of the Monroe Doctrine, he wrote an article on US presidents and presidential candidates and submitted it to Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine.[7] His letter said he was about to leave London to explore Europe, but: "In the mean time, I must have some sort of employment to keep me out of mischief."[8] Biographer Donald A. Sears says "the situation was desperate" when Neal received a response from William Blackwood.[7] The acceptance letter said: "You are exactly the correspondent that we want".[9] The payment of five guineas[a] was more than Neal had ever received for any magazine submission.[14]

Early American literature scholar William B. Cairns considered Blackwood's the most important literary periodical in 1820s Great Britain, a period in which such periodicals were more influential than ever before.[15] Neal was already familiar with it and had read issues in Baltimore.[16] The editors of a six-volume 2016 academic collection of Blackwood's articles called it "the most brilliant, troubling, acerbic and imaginative periodical of the post-Napoleonic age".[17] Literature scholar Fritz Fleischmann described the magazine as subscribing to an aesthetic belief in original thoughts expressed in bold and forceful language".[18] The editor of a 1959 academic Blackwood's collection used the words "rioutous" and "blackguardly".[19] The magazine had not, however, published a single piece on an American topic from June 1822 until Neal's first piece in May 1824.[20]

Neal felt he was a good fit for Blackwood's, having sought it out as "the cleverist, the sauciest, and most unprincipled of our calumniators", he later wrote.[21] Cairns agreed, writing: "Neal's slashing style and the somewhat sensational nature of his utterances fitted well with the manner of Blackwood's".[22] Biographer Benjamin Lease argued that Blackwood liked Neal's style and wanted it in his magazine.[23] Neal was one of many new contributors adopted by Blackwood in the early 1820s; alongside Eyre Evans Crowe, he was one of two to exhibit the publisher's desired style notably well.[24] Neal's article in the May 1824 issue was the first to appear in any British literary journal,[25] and it was republished by the New European in multiple languages throughout mainland Europe.[7]

Steady contributorship

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During his three years in England, Neal contributed articles to eight other British periodicals, including The European Magazine, The London Magazine, Monthly Magazine, The New Monthly Magazine, and The Westminster Review.[26] He had an article in the European Review's inaugural (June 1824) issue, and editor Alexander Walker paid more than Blackwood, but he also rejected all of Neal's subsequent submissions after learning who Neal was.[27] Neal sent five more articles to Blackwood with a letter explaining his willingness to cover any manner of topics; Blackwood rejected them all.[28] His sixth submission to Blackwood was accepted,[29] and Neal became a regular contributor, finding himself "warmly welcomed and handsomely paid", according to Sears.[7] As Blackwood's Magazine's first major American contributor,[24] Neal authored an article for every issue between July 1824 and February 1826.[30] Neal's presence in its pages was substantial enough that literary historian Fred Lewis Pattee called it a "complete surrender" on the part of "Blackwood's to the swashbuckling young American".[31]

Neal later wrote about this period to indicate that he was already on a mission to write about American topics in the UK, but biographer Irving T. Richards argues for the likelihood that Neal found the opportunity with Blackwood after he arrived.[32] Either way, he quickly became Blackwood's primary authority on US topics.[33] This series of articles highlighted cultural similarities between the US and UK, making the case for an improved transatlantic relationship.[34] It served to counterpoise ample content from contemporary UK authors that predominantly disparaged the US, when it considered the new nation at all.[35] A decade later, Neal called Blackwood's "the first British Magazine that ever allowed an American fair play".[36] He further claimed that Blackwood "published for me what no other magazine-proprietor in the three kingdoms would have dared to publish".[37]

The first installment of the American Writers series came out in the September 1824 issue.[38] Blackwood requested some changes to the second installment before its publication, particularly that Neal tone down his attack on John Elihu Hall and refrain from calling him a blackguard.[39] After publishing the last installment in February 1825, Blackwood sent Neal a letter congratulating him on completing the series. He encouraged standalone articles in the future, but to continue on American topics.[40] He did not publish anything substantial in Blackwood's again until September, however.[41]

Anonymity

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Neal was convinced that anything submitted by an American to any British periodical would be rejected if it did not disparage the US.[5] For his writing to be accepted, "Neal treated the venture as an undercover operation", according to literature scholar Ellen Bufford Welch.[42] "[H]e considered [it] an impenetrable disguise", according to Pattee.[37] He started by introducing himself as Carter Holmes in his first communication with Blackwood,[43] and continued using the pseudonym in all correspondence with him while writing American Writers.[44] He made clear it was a pseudonym, but maintained that he was English.[43] Blackwood and his editors likely figured out quickly they were dealing with an American.[45]

The American Writers series appeared in Blackwood's under the name X.Y.Z.,[46] which he borrowed from contributors John Wilson and John Gibson Lockhart.[47] He used other names for other Blackwood's pieces.[48] Despite describing himself in those pages as English, most British readers likely knew they were reading the work of an American.[49] Blackwood's endorsement of the work likely made Neal's opinions all the more influential to British readers; multiple contemporary UK periodicals copied misinformation from American Writers.[50] Likely reflecting British readership in general, The Westminster Review stated years later in 1831: "There is no mistaking the hand of John Neal" in his work published in British periodicals.[51]

Readers on both sides of the Atlantic largely knew they were reading the work of an American,[52] particularly those in the US.[37] Many connected American Writers to Neal.[53] Based on his reading of the first two installments, Philadelphian John Elihu Hall outed Neal as author in The Port Folio in late 1824.[54] When reviewing his own work in American Writers, Neal hints at his identity, saying that "we know him well" and describing his anonymously-published novels: "No matter whose they are—mine or another's ... I shall neither acknowledge, nor deny them."[55] In his last piece for Blackwood's, published after the final installment of American Writers, Neal proclaimed his true nationality and signed it with his last initial.[56] He revealed his name to Blackwood in a letter around the same time.[43] Years later he used the name Carter Holmes for the protagonist of the 1830 novel Authorship,[57] which was nevertheless a "fictitious name" connected to "Blackwood".[58]

Content

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American Writers comprises about 50,000 words[34] over 80 magazine pages.[59] Five successfully-numbered installments published between September 1824 and February 1825 bear that title,[34] followed by an essay in September 1825 titled "Late American Books". Scholar Robert Bain considered that piece the sixth installment,[52] and Pattee included it in his 1937 republication of the series.[60] Literature scholars Alfred Fiorelli, Benjamin Lease and Hans-Joachim Lang counted 120 names among the authors covered by Neal.[61] Both Richards and scholar Alberta Fabris put the number at 135.[62] Those figures, both living and dead at the time, included novelists, poets, political writers, scientific writers, philosophers, theologians, journalists, historians, geographers, and even painters.[63] Each figure is covered with at least a paragraph, though some get multiple pages.[64] He dedicates half a page to James Fenimore Cooper, six pages to Charles Brockden Brown, eight to himself, and ten to Washington Irving.[65]

Aside from familiarizing British readers with American authors,[66] Neal's central message in American Writers is that the US had not yet developed its own voice:[67] there is "no such thing in the United States of North America, as a body of native literature ... bearing any sort of national character."[68] He offered specific recommendations for how to develop one,[69] by encouraging natural originality over studied adherence to established models.[70] He also advised literary critics to give US writers more attention, but to avoid undeserved praise, for fear it would stifle creative growth.[71] "Let us never make a prodigious fuss about any American book, which if it were English, would produce little or no sensation ... it is only insulting the Americans", he said.[72] Following his own advice, his assessment of individual writers was "brutally honest", according to Welch.[73] Where he did find what he considered truly American literature, he named only Brown, himself, and James Kirke Paulding.[74] He wrote about all authors from recollection, having brought neither any of their works nor any notes on them from America. As a result, Neal devoted more space to anecdotes relating to some authors than to analysis of their work. According to the editors of a 2016 collection of Blackwood's articles: "The series is notoriously riddled with factual errors".[34]

Contemporary reactions

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British readers

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American figures

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Portland, Maine

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Black letters on white paper
Broadside posted in Portland, Maine, in 1827


Influence on American writers

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Modern scholarship

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Publication history

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Authors covered

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The following authors are critiqued in American Writers:[60]

Notes

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  1. ^ A guinea in 1824 was the equivalent of one pound and one shilling,[10] roughly US$25 in 1824,[11] which is approximately equal to £584.00[12] or $694.00[13] in present terms.

References

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Citations

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  1. ^ Sears 1978, p. 11.
  2. ^ Watts & Carlson 2012, p. xvi.
  3. ^ Welch 2021, p. 473.
  4. ^ Lease 1954, p. 86, quoting George L. Nesbitt.
  5. ^ a b Lease 1972, p. 47.
  6. ^ Pattee 1937b, p. 15.
  7. ^ a b c d Sears 1978, p. 71.
  8. ^ Lease 1972, p. 48, quoting John Neal.
  9. ^ Lease 1972, p. 49, quoting William Blackwood.
  10. ^ Barrow, Mandy (2013). "Understanding Old British Money — Pounds, Shillings, and Pence". Project Britain. Woodlands Resources. Archived from the original on May 31, 2020. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  11. ^ Lease 1972, p. 49.
  12. ^ UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
  13. ^ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
  14. ^ Richards 1933, pp. 472–473.
  15. ^ Cairns 1922, pp. 10, 15.
  16. ^ Lease 1972, p. 50.
  17. ^ Strachan et al. 2016, p. xii.
  18. ^ Fleischmann 1983, p. 148.
  19. ^ Lease 1972, p. 50, quoting A.L. Strout.
  20. ^ Cairns 1922, pp. 29–30.
  21. ^ Lease & Lang 1978, p. xiv, quoting John Neal.
  22. ^ Cairns 1922, p. 16.
  23. ^ Lease 1972, pp. 50–52.
  24. ^ a b Strachan et al. 2016, p. xiii.
  25. ^ Daggett 1920, p. 11.
  26. ^ Gohdes 1944, p. 54.
  27. ^ Richards 1933, pp. 474–475.
  28. ^ Richards 1933, p. 473.
  29. ^ Richards 1933, p. 476.
  30. ^ Sears 1978, pp. 71–72.
  31. ^ Pattee 1937b, p. 16.
  32. ^ Richards 1933, pp. 475–476.
  33. ^ Strachan et al. 2016, p. xiv.
  34. ^ a b c d Strachan et al. 2016, p. 257.
  35. ^ Fiorelli 1980, p. 29.
  36. ^ Daggett 1920, p. 14, quoting John Neal.
  37. ^ a b c Pattee 1937b, p. 18.
  38. ^ Neal 1937, p. 29.
  39. ^ Richards 1933, pp. 485–486.
  40. ^ Richards 1933, p. 489.
  41. ^ Richards 1933, p. 486.
  42. ^ Welch 2021, p. 10.
  43. ^ a b c Lease & Lang 1978, p. ix.
  44. ^ Watts & Carlson 2012, p. xviii.
  45. ^ Lease & Lang 1978, p. ix; Fiorelli 1980, pp. 28–29; Lease 1972, p. 49.
  46. ^ Elmer 2012, p. 147.
  47. ^ Strachan et al. 2016, p. xxn1.
  48. ^ Pattee 1937b, p. 17.
  49. ^ Cairns 1922, p. 16; Pattee 1937b, p. 23.
  50. ^ Cairns 1922, p. 148n11.
  51. ^ Pattee 1937b, p. 23, quoting The Westminster Review.
  52. ^ a b Bain 1971, p. xii.
  53. ^ Dickson 1943, p. xvi.
  54. ^ Richards 1933, pp. 563–564.
  55. ^ Elmer 2012, p. 147, quoting John Neal.
  56. ^ Richards 1933, p. 492.
  57. ^ Richter 2012, p. 79.
  58. ^ Welch 2021, p. 480, quoting John Neal.
  59. ^ Daggett 1920, p. 12.
  60. ^ a b Pattee 1937a, pp. vii–viii.
  61. ^ Lease & Lang 1978, p. ix; Fiorelli 1980, pp. 27–28.
  62. ^ Richards 1933, pp. 479–480; Fabris 1966, p. 16.
  63. ^ Welch 2021, p. 473; Orestano 2012, p. 132.
  64. ^ Daggett 1920, p. 13.
  65. ^ Richards 1933, p. 480.
  66. ^ Welch 2021, p. 474; Bain 1971, p. xii.
  67. ^ Gilmore 2012, p. 482; Lease 1972, p. 51; Lease & Lang 1978, p. x; Fiorelli 1980, p. 74.
  68. ^ Gilmore 2012, p. 482, quoting John Neal.
  69. ^ Gilmore 2012, p. 482.
  70. ^ Lease & Lang, p. xiii.
  71. ^ Welch 2021, p. 474; Richards 1933, p. 480; Lease 1972, p. 51.
  72. ^ Badin 1969, p. 17, quoting John Neal.
  73. ^ Welch 2021, p. 474.
  74. ^ Lease 1972, p. 51.

Sources

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Category:Books by John Neal (writer) Category:1824 in literature Category:1825 in literature Category:1937 non-fiction books Category:Books about writers Category:Books of literary criticism

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