Collected Writings of Charles Brockden Brown: Historical Sketches and Fragments: Volume 5

The second volume in the Collected Writings of Charles Brockden Brown assembles for the first time his major periodical writings from the period when he was also producing his famous novels. All the pieces he contributed to The Columbian Magazine and The Weekly Magazine are joined by an expansive collection of stories and essays from The Monthly Magazine, which he also edited between 1799 and 1800. Texts offering major insights into Brown's ideas about the human imagination, American society, and the art of fiction such as “The Rhapsodist,” “The Man at Home,” and “The Difference Between History and Romance,” are complemented by dozens of other works, many never before attributed to him, covering topics ranging from the theatre and classical literature to racial identity and geographical knowledge. Each edited text provides detailed information concerning publication history and provenance, along with extensive scholarly annotation. The editors of the volume include two additional essays: "A Historical Essay," offering detailed contextualization of the post-Revolutionary cultural milieu from which Brown's magazine writing emerged, and "A Textual Essay," offering new bibliographical information about the texts and explains editorial protocols for the volume.