{"product_id":"truths-ragged-edge-paperback","title":"Truth's Ragged Edge - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003ePhilip F. Gura\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom the acclaimed cultural historian Philip F. Gura comes \u003ci\u003eTruth's Ragged Edge\u003c\/i\u003e, a comprehensive and original history of the American novel's first century. Grounded in Gura's extensive consideration of the diverse range of important early novels, not just those that remain widely read today, this book recovers many long-neglected but influential writers--such as the escaped slave Harriet Jacobs, the free black Philadelphian Frank J. Webb, and the irrepressible John Neal--to paint a complete and authoritative portrait of the era. Gura also gives us the key to understanding what sets the early novel apart, arguing that it is distinguished by its roots in \"the fundamental religiosity of American life.\" Our nation's pioneering novelists, it turns out, wrote less in the service of art than of morality. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis history begins with a series of firsts: the very first American novel, William Hill Brown's \u003ci\u003eThe Power of Sympathy\u003c\/i\u003e, published in 1789; the first bestsellers, Susanna Rowson's \u003ci\u003eCharlotte Temple \u003c\/i\u003eand Hannah Webster Foster's \u003ci\u003eThe Coquette\u003c\/i\u003e, novels that were, like Brown's, cautionary tales of seduction and betrayal; and the first native genre, religious tracts, which were parables intended to instruct the Christian reader. Gura shows that the novel did not leave behind its proselytizing purpose, even as it evolved. We see Catharine Maria Sedgwick in the 1820s conceiving of \u003ci\u003eA New-England Tale \u003c\/i\u003eas a critique of Puritanism's harsh strictures, as well as novelists pushing secular causes: George Lippard's \u003ci\u003eThe Quaker City\u003c\/i\u003e, from 1844, was a dark warning about growing social inequality. In the next decade certain writers--Hawthorne and Melville most famously--began to depict interiority and doubt, and in doing so nurtured a broader cultural shift, from social concern to individualism, from faith in a distant god to faith in the self. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRich in subplots and detail, Gura's narrative includes enlightening discussions of the technologies that modernized publishing and allowed for the printing of novels on a mass scale, and of the lively cultural journals and literary salons of early nineteenth-century New York and Boston. A book for the reader of history no less than the reader of fiction, \u003ci\u003eTruth's Ragged Edge\u003c\/i\u003e--the title drawn from a phrase in Melville, about the ambiguity of truth--is an indispensable guide to the fascinating, unexpected origins of the American novel.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePhilip F. Gura\u003c\/b\u003e is the William S. Newman Distinguished Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he holds appointments in English, American studies, and religious studies. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eAmerican Transcendentalism: A History\u003c\/i\u003e, which was a finalist for the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award in nonfiction, as well as many other books of American cultural history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 352\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1 x 8.6 x 5.7 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e April 15, 2014\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47278341521657,"sku":"9780374534400","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0789\/2782\/3097\/files\/OFdMSGZyUGRlZm5DaEltdkI3eGZpQT09.webp?v=1769007874","url":"https:\/\/bookscloud.io\/products\/truths-ragged-edge-paperback","provider":"BooksCloud Book Dropshipping","version":"1.0","type":"link"}