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Chapter 4 - Economy

from Part I - Fractures and Continuities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 June 2022

Justine S. Murison
Affiliation:
University of Illinois
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Summary

This essay examines how the antebellum economy was depicted in American literature from about 1820 to 1860. The first section borrows from the “New Economic Criticism” to provide an overview of the way American writers tended to represent the emergence of a new form of economic selfhood in America, one based both on credit and speculation and on market notions of “success” and “failure.” The second section takes its cue from recent scholarship in “Transnational American Studies” to suggest a possible future for economic criticism, one that attends to the way American literary selfhood was imagined during this period in relation to global networks of trade and exchange.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • Economy
  • Edited by Justine S. Murison, University of Illinois
  • Book: American Literature in Transition, 1820–1860
  • Online publication: 09 June 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108566872.006
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  • Economy
  • Edited by Justine S. Murison, University of Illinois
  • Book: American Literature in Transition, 1820–1860
  • Online publication: 09 June 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108566872.006
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Economy
  • Edited by Justine S. Murison, University of Illinois
  • Book: American Literature in Transition, 1820–1860
  • Online publication: 09 June 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108566872.006
Available formats
×