How would our literary histories of the early American novel change if the texts we included in that history changed? When we recognize new texts as part of our field, what effect
do they have on our narratives about American literature and culture? We
are interested in forgotten, unexpected, and strange books; in
reprints, translations, and abridgements; in the flexibilities
of genre and geography; and in the ways such texts might challenge or
press at the terms "early" and "American" and "novel."
This blog space will host provocations in response to such questions for the discussion session by the working group on the History of the Novel in America, to be held at the Society of Early Americanists biennial conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma in March 2017. Attendees at that session are encouraged to read the entries posted here, which will introduce texts and speculate about how their inclusion in our literary histories might change the stories we tell about America and about the novel.
