Charlotte Temple was the biggest best teller in American, basically until [b:Uncle Tom's Cabin|46787|Uncle Tom's Cabin|Harriet Beecher Stowe|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1414349231s/46787.jpg|2478635] came along. Considering the intensity with which female sexuality and expressions are strictly controlled throughout the entire book, I am somewhat surprised the book was so popular. But, I suppose, at the same time I'm not. Published in the 1790s, there was a dark cloud of female suppression hanging over America at this time. I supposed I just wanted to believe that women would have recognized their own abilities, talents, skills, understandings, and depths and not dismissed them so readily as is indicated by the vast popularity of this work. This work directly links the titular character's death to the fact she decided to have sex. If she had appropriately obeyed the male authority figures in her life she would be alive and perfectly happy and content.

Although I think this book is a sentimental, anti-woman work, there is something important to be said about the fame of this early work of American literature that was written by a woman. An article by Jane Tompkins elucidates the importance and unjust treatment received by Susanna Rowson in her lifetime and how that heritage of dismissal was carried on into our age. Charles Brockden Brown is considered the father of the American novel, but Rowson was writing at the same period and much more prolifically than Brown did. But because of the gender stereotyping and restrictions, considering her for the role of the mother of the American novel would've been impossible to consider. In many ways, Rowson would've agreed with this assessment of her work, at least considering the contents of this novel. She is not interested in exalting the place of women, but in reaffirming the status quo. In this way Brown should be considered the father of American literature because he challenged the status quo in many ways. ( )

This tale of two sisters split by an Indian attack (one is captured, one escapes) starts off interestingly enough, but kind of peters out in the end, alternating between boredom and over-the-top melodrama. My favorite bits were the digs at Puritan morality; the Puritans were pretty awful in retrospect.

found this for $1 in a thrift store. I recognized the author's name from the biographies of such early New England women as Margaret Fuller and Louisa May Alcott, both of whom (I think I recall) read her as girls. A fun read- quite dramatic and romantic. and interesting for its history. She describes the outskirts of Springfield Mass as dark with the endless canopy of trees. Not PC for modern times, though; she is meant to be speaking up for Native Americans, but the perspective on the "noble savages" is pretty telling.

Written in the early nineteenth century, Hope Leslie is a novel set in Puritanical New England by Catharine Maria Sedgwick. The conflict between the Puritans and the Pequod Native Americans is illustrated by the relationship between Magawisca, an Indian "princess," and the family and relations of Alice "Hope" Leslie. The novel is historical, part romantic comedy, and sentimental. Sedgwick both praises the early settlers of America for their bravery in moving to a new continent, but also heavily critiques the stifling Calvinist society for its strict rules, unabashed bigotry, and deep-set beliefs of superiority.

I enjoyed the novel, though sometimes the language was a little difficult to decipher. My favorite characters were Everell, Hope's love interest and a courageous, understanding boy, and Magawisca, the proud, loyal girl of a dying people. ( )

Published in 1827, [Hope Leslie] is an historical fiction set in Massachusetts during the early years of the colony. It presents two heroines, Hope Leslie, a thoughtful, charming and spirited colonist, and Magawisca, a noble, passionate and wise, young native American woman; both compelling and credible. The story is full of danger, intrigue, love, family and frontier - quite compelling if one has patience for the sometimes thick, antique prose and many digressions (which the narrator is only too willing to apologize for). The author was a contemporary of Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper and aimed, as they did, to write a truly 'American' novel which showcased our landscapes, history and values but Sedgwick focused on women's lives. Her novel is more nuanced than her contemporaries, there is a lot she questions through her narrative. This novel is perhaps an underappreciated part of our literary heritage and a great read. ( )