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Pacific Sensations: Seeing Yellow in Nineteenth-Century American Print Culture By Colleen Tripp B.A., California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, 2005 M.A., University of California at Santa Cruz, 2008 M.A., Brown University, 2011 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of American Studies at Brown University Providence, Rhode Island May 2015 © Copyright 2015 by Colleen Tripp This dissertation by Colleen Tripp is accepted in its present form by the Department of American Studies as satisfying the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Date_____________ _________________________________ Professor Jim Egan, Advisor Recommended to the Graduate School Date_____________ _________________________________ Professor Robert G. Lee, Reader Date_____________ _________________________________ Professor Ralph Rodriguez, Reader Date_____________ _________________________________ Professor Susan Smulyan, Reader Approved by the Graduate School Date_____________ _________________________________ Peter M. Weber, Dean of the Graduate School iii CURRICULUM VITAE Colleen Tripp was born in southern California and grew up in Westlake Village, California. She attended California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, receiving her B.A. in English (2005), and later went on to earn her M.A. in Literature (2008) at the University of California at Santa Cruz. At Brown University, Colleen earned her M.A. in American Studies (2011) and will receive her Ph.D. in American Studies this May (2015). Drawing on her interests in public humanities, Tripp has circulated her scholarship at conferences and in print during her academic career. She presented portions of her dissertation at conferences such as the American Studies Association, New Media in American Literary History, and Central Modern Language Association, among others. In recognition of the originality of her research, she was awarded the 2013 CASA Paper Prize by the California American Studies Association for her first dissertation chapter, “Beyond the Black Atlantic: Lascars and Manila Men in Herman Melville’s ‘Benito Cereno,”’ and this paper evolved into a forthcoming article in the Journal of Transnational American Studies. She has also published an encyclopedia entry on “The Gilded Age” in the Encyclopedia of American Populism by ABC-CLIO. Her research and professionalization has been supported by several fellowships, grants, and archival work experiences. During the writing her dissertation, Tripp received iv support from the Center for Historic American Visual Culture at American Antiquarian Society, the California American Studies Association, the Dickens Project, among others. She also was selected to work as an archivist for two acclaimed digital archives, the Women Writers Project and the Modernist Journals Project, as well as become a fellow for HASTAC (the Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory), and these experiences were invaluable in shaping the visual culture of her dissertation. Tripp brought the same creative ethos in her public outreach as a mentor and public humanist. Tripp was a three-year mentor for the Leadership Alliance Mellon Initiative, a national summer research program for talented low-income and minority undergraduates. The students of the Leadership Alliance summer program—talented undergraduates from a variety of humanities disciplines—often discussed the rhetoric of race and class informing their social world, and these multi-disciplinary conversations deeply influenced her pedagogy and research. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS While I worked hard on my manuscript, I believe it takes a village to write a dissertation, and there are a number of people and organizations that I would like to thank for their time and care. First and foremost, I would like to thank my dissertation advisor Jim Egan, whose big heart and open-mindedness helped me craft an interesting manuscript and encouraged a wonderful, enriching education here at Brown University. Susan Smulyan, of course, also needs to be included in my thanks for support. Her mentorship helped me get past those moments of self-doubt and criticism, and her enthusiasm for public humanities and digital scholarship inspired much of my work. Ralph Rodriguez’s help in matters of cultural studies and theory were essential to my interdisciplinary method, as were his professionalization tips that undoubtedly helped me navigate the perils of academia as a career. My chats with Robert G. Lee and his big-idea thinking were the original starting points for this manuscript, and I would like to thank him for inspiring my American Studies dissertation. Finally, I would like to thank the California American Studies Association (CASA), the American Studies Association, and the American Antiquarian Society for all of their financial support during the writing of my manuscript and this part of my academic career. My fellow graduate students and friends were also an invaluable source of comfort and laughs while at Brown University. Three cheers to Pia Sahni and Maj Kargbo for having sensible, solid advice about research, relationships, and what not to vi wear. Sara, you and I had some laughs and tears over cake and ice cream more than once, and I will always be grateful for your sweet friendship. Crystal, Heather, and Maria also need to be included in these thanks, if only because our dinner parties and meet-ups were always a source of fun and frivolity during even the most stressful of times. Chris Suh, you are my favorite California transplant, and I am grateful that we were able to work together during your time here at Brown and while at Stanford. Jeff Cabral, your financial-resourcefulness and generosity helped me in more ways than one, and I cannot thank you enough for your kindness. I would also like to thank my closest friends and family for giving me hours of reprieve during those long days of writing. Mom, I always love your gift packages and cards in the era of everything digital, and I am so excited to be moving back home to you. Ryan and Laurel, you two have been a rock for the family this year, and I can’t wait to see you two wed before the Fourth of July. Kendra, I foresee too many drinks and dinner dates in your neighborhood and my new home, and you should know I might dog-nap Penny. Finally, Nicole, you might be the smallest and most stubborn woman I know, and your tenacity inspires me to do great things. Thanks for being the kind of best friend that I write about in an acknowledgement such as this. I dedicate this manuscript to Ronaldo Noche and John G. Tripp, two of the greatest men in my life that I have ever known. Dad, you concealed your final chapter, and your selflessness helped me write the last pages of this before you had to go. I love you. And Ronaldo, you are my punk rock knight in shining armor, and we’re riding off into the sunset in your old Toyota onto our California dream. PS, I’m driving and don’t forget the mixtape! vii TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………………………….viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS……………………………………………………………..ix INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………..1-16 CHAPTER 1………………………………………………………………………….17-49 Beyond the Black Atlantic: Lascars and Manila Men in Herman Melville’s “Benito Cereno” CHAPTER 2……………………………………………………………………….....50-85 The Only Good Chinese is a Dead Chinese: Frontier Cosmopolitanism in Ambrose Bierce’s “The Haunted Valley” and Karl Muller’s “Heathen Chinee” Pitcher CHAPTER 3………………………………………………………………………...86-110 A China Trade-Inspired Book History: Decorative Arts and the Model Minority in Edith Maude Eaton’s Mrs. Spring Fragrance NOTES……………………………………………………………………………111-118 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………119-132 viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS “Heathen Chinee pitcher” (Harte), 1876………………………………………………....59 “Heathen Chinee pitcher” (Gambrinus), 1876…………………………………………...61 “Mrs. Spring Fragrance” (Cover), 1913……………………………………………...….94 “Mrs. Spring Fragrance” (Title Page), 1913…………………………………..…………96 ix INTRODUCTION American authors in the nineteenth-century vividly illustrated their fascination with Asian porcelainware. Some, like collector Alice Earle, remarked on the porcelain’s romantic designs, narrating a veritable world of exotic beauty seen in the comfort of one’s own home: “I have woven about it and halloed around it an Arabian Nights romance of astonishing plot and fancy” (186-7). Yet, others interpreted porcelain in a decidedly different manner, reading the objects as a reminder of a dangerous Eastern empire known for its cultural and technological competency, from gunpowder to porcelain (Degenhardt 132).1 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow remarks that Asian objects “filled us [Americans] with wonder and delight” but also “haunted us in dreams at night” (231-2). Nathaniel Hawthorne describes Asian porcelain as “grotesque,” insinuating something strange, fantastic, and even ugly about Asia. His Asian tea set in the House of Seven Gables was “painted over with grotesque figures of man, bird, and beast, in as grotesque a landscape . a world of vivid brilliancy” (76-7). Even after the twilight of the China Trade in America, Louisa May Alcott’s young protagonist Rose in Eight Cousins; or, The Aunt-Hill (1875) “played she was really landing in Hong Kong when they glided up to the steps in the shadow of the tall ‘Rajah’” (75-6). Rose experiences “China” through an almost dangerous proliferation of foreign goods, seeing the “samples,