Brief summaries of course texts
Charlotte Temple: A Tale of Truth, Susanna Rowson (American publication, 1794)
Susanna Rowson, a British American novelist, poet, playwright, actress, and educator, was responsible for writing the first American best-selling novel. In 1791, Rowson published "Charlotte Temple", which held the rank of best-selling novel of all time until Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1852). During her lifetime, she dabbled in many genres, composing novels, poetry, plays, musical farce, a dictionary, and even an opera. Many of her works were steeped in political opinion, as her life was greatly affected by the Revolutionary War. She would eventually go on to act on the stage, and then open a boarding school for girls. "Charlotte Temple" is an example of the seduction novel genre, wildly popular in early American literature. A British schoolgirl falls victim to the overwhelming charm of a handsome soldier, moving with him to America, where he abandons her, leaving her in an incredibly compromising position. (From Amazon)Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852)
The novel that changed the course of American history. Published in 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel was a powerful indictment of slavery in America. Describing the many trials and eventual escape to freedom of the long-suffering, good-hearted slave Uncle Tom, it aimed to show how Christian love can overcome any human cruelty. Uncle Tom’s Cabin has remained controversial to this day, seen as either a vital milestone in the anti-slavery cause or as a patronising stereotype of African-Americans, yet it played a crucial role in the eventual abolition of slavery and remains one of the most important American novels ever written. (From Penguin Random House)The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton (1905)
Set among the glittering salons of Gilded Age New York, Edith Wharton’s most popular novel is a moving indictment of a society whose soul-crushing limitations destroy a woman too spirited to be contained by them. The beautiful, much-desired Lily Bart has been raised to be one of the perfect wives of the wealthy upper class, but her drive and her spark of independent character prevent her from conforming sucessfully. Her desire for a comfortable life means that she will not marry for love without money, but her resistance to the rules of the social elite endangers her many marriage proposals and leads to a dramatic downward spiral into debt and dishonor. One of Edith Wharton’s most bracing and nuanced portraits of the life of women in a hostile, highly ordered world, The House of Mirth unfolds with the force of classical tragedy. (From Penguin Random House)Kindred, Octavia Butler (1979)
Kindred explores the dynamics and dilemmas of antebellum slavery from the sensibility of a late 20th-century black woman, who is aware of its legacy in contemporary American society. Dana is celebrating her twenty-sixth birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported through time and space to the antebellum South. Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner and Dana's own ancestor, is drowning, and Dana has been summoned to save him. Over repeated jarring returns to the slave quarters, the stay grows longer, more arduous, and more dangerous until it is uncertain whether or not Dana’s life will end, long before it has a chance to begin.Through the two interracial couples who form the emotional core of the story, the novel explores the intersection of power, gender, and race, and speculates on the prospects of future egalitarianism. While most of Butler's work is classified as science fiction, Kindred is considered to cross disciplinary boundaries. Butler has categorized the work as "a kind of grim fantasy." (From Beacon Press and Wikipedia)
Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn (2012)
On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer? (via Google Books)Perhaps these sound like standard-issue crime story machinations. They’re not. They’re only the opening moves for the game Ms. Flynn has in mind, which is a two-sided contest in which Nick and Amy tell conflicting stories. Each addresses the reader: Nick in the present tense, and Amy by way of an italics-filled, giddily emotional diary about the marriage. Both Nick and Amy are extremely adept liars, and they lied to each other a lot. Now they will lie to you. (from Janet Maslin, "The Lies that Buoy, then Break a Marriage," New York Times, 29 May 2012)
