Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Master's Theses Theses and Dissertations 1949 The Gothic horS t Story in American Periodicals from 1800-1850 with Especial Reference to the Lady Books Clarence E. Brown Loyola University Chicago Recommended Citation Brown, Clarence E., "The Gothic horS t Story in American Periodicals from 1800-1850 with Especial Reference to the Lady Books" (1949). Master's Theses. Paper 740. http://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/740 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1949 Clarence E. Brown THE GOTHIC SHORT STORY IN AMERICAN PERIODICALS FROM 1800-1850 WITH ESPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE LADY BOOKS by CLAREliCE Eo BROWN, JR. A THESIS SUBMH!TED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF lYIASTER OF ARTS IN LOYOLA UNIVERS ITY Febru.ary 1949 VITA Clarence E. Brown, Jr., was born in Chicago, Illinois, November 11, 1918. He was grad~ated trom Carl Sch~rz High School, Chicago, Illinois, February, 1936. The Degree of Bachelor of EdQcation was conferred June, 1942, by Chicago Teacher's College. Atter serving three years in the NavJ Air Corps., the writer taught high school English from 1946 to 1948 in the Chicago Fub1ic School System. TAJ3LE OF CONTEl~TS Chapter Page I. THE GOTHIC TALES......................................... 4 Puritan background of Lady Books--The almanacs--The Lady Books--Godey's--The Titles--sub-titles--Pre­ Romantic poetry--Gothic traditions--purgation of emotions--the stock old castle tale--Irish Folk lore tales--German super~tion--long and short tales--ty­ pical fragments--Coleridge echoes--precursor of Poe--Burns' Sportive Tales--the prosaic explana­ tion--Sportive twins--the cheapest tale--Breaks from the past--Science in the talea--the ridiculous tale--second-hand inspiration--Time for Poe. II. THE GOTHIC CILWCTERS ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 48 Byronic heroes described--their dress--the mask--their l&~gh--the classic hero--Byronic heroi~es described-­ classic designs--Fatima the wretch--N'oble strains-­ characteristics of Byronio heroes--Pre-3hakesperian gentlemen--melal1.choly--cruel--Sir Henry the oddi ty-­ Barons hated--feared--Realism in Merry Terry--the stock gloomy men--Enters the rogae--God conspired against them--Puritanism--1ifelodramaticism--madness-­ the unhonored grave--char~cteristics of Eyronic heroines--Tender--Suffering--Tears--Music--organs-­ French horns--guitars--They die melodramatically-­ DEA.THl 1110 THE GOTHIC SCJll1;:&RY ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 74 Breakdown of Frontier--Puritan tradition--America land of tradi tiona-Nationalization of letters---­ Back to medievalism--Detaila betrayed !~ati::maliza­ tion--European tradition--Boldness gone--Extremes needed--Puritan nature concept--Morals-Gothic legacy--America of 1800 to l850--Classic harkenings-­ DebaQched America--Byronic democratization--American name tabs--Deoadent type of Tale--Still Radcliffean-­ Decay modernized--Scuthland--lfidwest--Nothing new added--Imagery details different--Camouflaged Americanism--Chances for native Gothic literature-­ NatQre imagery sickly---America lost its chanoe. IV. COIJCLUSIOI~ ••••••••••••.••••••••••••••••••••••••.••••••••• 91 IHTBODUC'! ION The stlldy of THE GOTHIO EloEMENTS IN AMERIOAN PERIODIOALS FROM 1800-1850, WI~ ESPEOIAL REFERENCE TO THE LADY BOOKS has two purposes. The first of these is to trace the development of the Gothic strain in the short stories to find whether there is a typically American short story form of fiction between the years 1800 to 1850. The years between 1800 and 1850 were chosen for this stady, because 1800 was early enough to encompass the English Gothic School in its last phases, and becallse 1850 was late enough to include the Lady Book era and some of the colortal stories of Edgar Allan Poe. The select bibliography compiled by the writer of this thesis is a unique contriblltion to the bibliographies of American periodical literature in the unchartered region of early American magazine studies. The Newberry Library of Chicago supplie4 the magazines from which this bibliographical list was compiled; one hundred forty periodi­ cals were I1Sed. The magazines the writer used were not catalogu.ed by POOLE'S INDEX nor by the NEW YORK UNIVERSITY LIBRARY INDEX. Both indexes are the best known guides to this vast unchartered magazine field. The greatest of the Lady Books--Godey's was omitted for two reasons. First, becallse it does not fall within the dates of the compiled bibliography, and second, because the majority of the tale8 in the magazine were not of sufficient Gothic merit to make the breaking of the 1 2 bibliography worth-while. However, one hundred and forty magazine. were found which had many Gothic tales, which made the omission of Godey's insignificant for the purposes of this study. Beca~se of the complicated jungle of Lady Book literat~re, the title. of many magazines were re-named in the period under consideration. Grahams Lady's ~ Gentleman's Magazine may be one of this fugitive variety, bat a care~l re-check with the two standard bibliography indexes does not listGrahams with the title Lady's, bat rather under the title American Monthly Magazine. The story behind this thesis is the story of the bitter st~gle of talented American writer. who .t~ggled to maintain an artistic sense of val~es in an America where the ~lgar reader's only concession to the development of American Literat~re was a s~bscription oheck to a cheap b~t decorated Lady Book. In this miliea of literary poverty it is not strange that Edgar Allan Poe died in debt; Hawthorne retreated from the mob; and Whitman modestly signed himself WN. The stories behind their lives, and that of every writer of major importance in American Literat~re m~st be interpreted in terms of the American magazine, beca~se American Literat~re was magazine literat~re. The Gothio short story has been held in dlsrepate sinoe the oheap horror thrillers were shipped to this co~try in 1802 and even before that year. England shared in the ignoble defeat of American Literat~re from 1800 to 1850, bat so powerf~l was the attraction of this renegade 3 fo~ ot literature that hardly an American poet, short story writer, or novelist in the period considered was not aware of ita selling ability. Charles Brocden Brown, America's first novelist, in Wieland tried to ridicule the Gothic tale out of fashion in America, but America loved the cheap tales. Writers, editors, and publishers all made money from the Gothic vo~e and its influence on American Literature in the LAdy Books is a study that should bring a renewed interest in early Americana. Chapter I TEB GOTHIC TALES Over a cent~ry and a half before the Lady Book era in mid- nineteenth cent~ry American periodical literat~re, o~r forefather• ••• io lighten up their dreary sojo~rn in the wi1derness ••• tried to interest the children of the forest in the peculiar ideas and traditioJ18 whieh they br~ht with them in the form of legends and literature.l The remark made by the critic regarding cheerful liter&t~re at this time was probably true: ••• the word NOVEL was a charm to conjure up evil imaginings with, and the fathers of Bew Bngland (would) .tart~ •• back and turn••• pale at the sound for there was little in those bleak days to suggest what was to come in the 1830·s when ••• scarcely a window 8eat or work table ••• was not occ~pied by 3 or 4 of those dapper volumes that the eye recognized in a moment for the off­ spring of the novel writing muse. 3 - 1. Sam~el Briggs, "The Origin and Development of the Almanack in America," Western Re.erve and Northern Ohio Historical Sooiety, Tract No. 69, (January 12,-rB87), p. 4~ 2.~ove1s and Novel Beading," The Ladie8 Magazine and Album, Vol. X, (1848), p. 147. - - 3. -Ibid. 4 5 The only torm of literat~re in the New England witchcratt communities was almanac llterat~e, tor almanacs were ~set~ for agrarian Pilgrims. The first of these almanacs was called "an Almanac" and was the tirst p~blication ot the tirst printing press in America which was established at Harvard College in 1632.' In 1726, exactly one h~dred years before the start of the Lady Books in American l1terat~re, Dr. Nathaniel Ames of Dedham, Massach~sett8, meas~ed ~he taste of Americans in the Astronomical Diary ~Almanack which circulated in sixty tho~and New England homes where The Bible was a laxury.5 Before many years had passed Ames' hodge- podge became ••• an annual cyclopedia of intormation, ot am~sement, a vehicle tor the conveyance to the p~blic ot all sorts ot knowledge and nonsense in prose and Ter.e •• ~sparkling with brevity and variety. When the Imprimat~r censorship was removed by the English Governor, there was a rush in print, and almanac man~fact~rers increased and .~ltiplied throughout the land.' Soon after the freedom of the press was as.~ed there was a n~rry ot "Poor Almanacs" which were climaxed by the monarch ot all the Zodiao literat~re--Benjamin Franklin's ~ Richardts Almanac, first 4. Ibid., p. 466. 5. Briggs q~oting Tyler in The History ot American Literat~re, p. 4730 6. Briggs, Ibid., p. 473 • .,. Ibid., P:T6'9. 6 8 publi.hed in 1733 and continued until as late as 1767. About torty more almanacs were published after ~ Richard, but their popularity decreased with the march ot the American empire westward, amd after 1800 they were almost totally eclip.ed by the tlood ot literature ot other cla.ses,9 namely Lady Book literature.