Dissertation
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THE LIFE AND WORKS OF GEORGE LIPPARD DISSERTATION Presented In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Emilio De Grazia, B.A., M.A, The Ohio State University 1969 Approved by n ivU / ■ AaviserAdviser Department of English ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express thanks to some of the people who have made this study possible. First, I greatly appreciate the efforts of the staffs of the Interlibrary Loan Service of the Ohio State University Library, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and the Library Company of Phila delphia. For her care and efficiency I also want to thank Sharon Fulkerson. A number of friends and teachers are greatly responsible for whatever virtues this study may have. Thai'iks first to Professor Keith Fenimore of Albion (Michigan) College, who suggested the subject, contributed notes, and made me read many American novels; to Professor Charles Held, also of Albion, a teacher and friend who first taught me to value books; to Professor John Muste, of the Ohio State University, for sharing his time and Insights; and, of course, to Professor Julian Markels, for providing careful and Just criticism, for giving often needed encouragement, and for teaching me new ways of seeing things. It goes without saying that this study is dedicated to Mom and Dad, and to Candy, the girl on the ship I brought home to Mom and Dad, ii VITA February 16, 1941.,,, B o m — Dearborn, Michigan 1 9 6 3.............. B.A., Albion College, Albion, Michigan 1 9 6 3 -1 9 6........... 5 Teaching Assistant, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1 9 6 5................ M.A., The Ohio State Uni versity, Columbus, Ohio 1 9 6 5 -1 9 6..... 9 ...... Teaching Associate, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1 9 6 9,............... Assistant Professor of English, Winona State College, Winona, Minnesota FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: American Literature Professor Julian Markelc Professor John Muste Professor William Charvat 111 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.......................»....... Il VITA..................... ill Chapter I. INTRODUCTION........................ 1 II. THE EARLY YEARS OF A REBORN SAVIOR,. 1? III. INITIATION.......................... 37 IV. LITERARÏ CITIZEN SOLDIER., ......... 72 V. THE QUAKER CITY— REPLETE WITH THE GROTESQUE-SUBLIME..... .......... 135 VI. ROMANCER OF THE REVOLUTION.......... 177 VII. THE ROMANCE 0F LOVE AND WAR ^35 VIII. 1848, YEAR OP REVOLUTION. ........ 275 IX. THE SECOND QUAKER CITY.............. 311 X. THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE UNION........ 372 XI. THE WANDERER COMES TO REST.......... 415 XII. CONCLUSION.......................... ^38 NOTES......................................... 460 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................ ^90 iv CHAÏ>T2Tl I INTRODUCTION All men are dreamers. The geologist dreams, vhen he gravely attempts to reason himself and others, into the belief of a Pre-Adamite world; the his torian dreams, when from a few puerile fictions, he constructs a solemn and truthful chronicle; and a very dreamer is your portentious Divine, who would convert the world, by describing, in lovely colors, the terrors of hell. All men are dreamers, from the niggard of a Dollar-worshipper, who builds up a fortune, to be squandered by his profligate heir, to the Ideal Perfectionist, whose supreme elixir for the evils of society, is, by turns, a very popular theory of government, where every man administers justice for himself, with Knife and Torch; or an Association, which herds men, women and children together, in a farm, like cattle in a barnyard, or yet again, a Plesh- abhorring society, which, holding the butcher and his stall in superlative abhorrence, confines itself to sawdust bread and raw turnip. — George Llppard, Blanche of Brandywine. Even someone devoted to the Carlylean notion that his tory is moved by its great men cannot help but be interested on learning that when the name of George Lippard is men tioned in Philadelphia, "the conversation is changed or the « party disperses with significant haste." Although almost no one today would recognize lippard's name, let alone con sider him a great man, one cannot but wonder why his name causes embarrassment and why he has been ignored. In truth, Lippard is a minor writer whose importance is primarily historical. Yet in his own time he may have qualified as one of Carlyle's "heroes,” and no less a figure than Edgar Allen Poe testified to his "genius," Although his name is known today by only a handful of historians and specialists in American literature, Lippard was probably the most popu lar and successful American novelist between 1844 and 1854, the very years in which Poe, Hawthorne, and Melville were struggling to survive as writers of fiction. The Quaker City (1845), his best known work, sold more copies than any other American novel before the appearance of Uncle Tom*s Cabin (1852). So enormous was its appeal during Lippard's lifetime that it was pirated and imitated in the United States; and it found an audience abroad, being reprinted at least six times in both England and Germany. "His works of romance," commented his contemporary, the Reverend Chauncey Burr, "bring a higher price in the market of this day, than the works of any other American novelist. They have met with a rapider and larger sale, than was ever known in the history of novel-publishing, in this country, before this day."2 Only the novels of Walter Scott and Charles Dickens had a wider American audience than those of Lippard, who in an active career that lasted only a dozen years, was one of the few Americans of his time able to msGce a living by the pen. Before he died in 1854 at the age of 31, he had pub lished more than a dozen novels and countless pamphlets, historical "legends," and newspaper columns; he also had edited his owa weekly, worked on some plays, lectured in many parts of the United States, and left a legacy, a secret fraternal order that climaxed his life's work, and, branching out eventually into at least twenty-six states, still is functioning and honoring his name even today. In light of these facts, it is surprising that scholars have ignored Lippard, Why the mention of his name should cause conversations to change or parties to disperse is a question that invites a number of explanations. Certainly he is remembered, es pecially around Philadelphia, as a sensationalistic writer of little merit who was bent on shocking his readers; thus it is perhaps his vulgarity that is embarrassing. Others perhaps are scandalized by the principles he espoused, see ing explosive doctrines in his strange mixture of what today would be considered socialism and superpatriotism. In any event, if all parties have not necessarily dispersed at the mention of his name, almost all literary scholars have neglected him for one reason or another. Some scholars no doubt have ignored him because of the inaccessibility of primary sources, for materials relating to his life are scanty and rare; although thousands of his works were printed, few survive, perhaps because so many were issued in perishable paper wrappers. Others have ignored him be cause it is unfashionable to be associated with a writer whose name is insignificant and whose style is now deemed Insufferable— -whose 111-fortune it is, in short, to be unable to please mo dem scholars while instructing them. But that Lippard will probably never again command the wide spread attention he received while alive should not preclude him as a subject of scholarly concern. Modern tastes are different from those of Lippard*s times, and for this reason he is, to an extent, '’a misunderstood man of let ters.His significance in his own time, although clearly attested to both by reputable testimony and by the tremen dous popularity he once enjoyed, has been discounted be cause his tastes and values apparently have lost their Im portance to most people of the twentieth century. But I do not believe that Lippard*s tastes and values necessarily have lost their Importance; I believe that their meaning has been transformed in the twentieth century, that Indeed there is a continuity between many of Lippard*s Ideas and m o d e m thinking, and for this reason he is important and may be found useful and absorbing. Thus, my purpose Is neither to apologize for Lippard nor necessarily to attempt to effect his literary revival. His life and thought simply need to be introduced to the student of American literature and culture. The picture of Lippard I intend to draw is to be at once comprehensive and critical. The only studies of his life and letters are some critical and biographical sketches written in the nineteenth century and an unpublished life by the late Joseph Jackson, a historian whose study is in complete, poorly written, and overapologetie. My disserta» tion is intended to fill this gap; it will be a critical biography which synthesizes available facts about Lippard*s life, presents a critical exposition both of the matter and manner of his writings, and traces the relationship of the writings to his life in so far as they are an extension of his personality and world view. Moreover, since Lippard cannot be seen apart from his culture, I would like not only to see his life in the context of his culture but to see through him into his culture. In short, to delineate his peculiar vision of mid-nineteenth century America is the purpose of this dissertation— "to see into him," as Carlyle says, "understand his goings forth, decipher the whole heart of his mystery; nay, not only to see into him, but out of 4 him, to view the world altogether as he views it," Lippard*s life is intrinsically fascinating.