Master plots
Subtitle: race and the founding of an American literature, 1787-1845
By: Jared Gardner.
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Baltimore, Md
Language: eng
Number of pages: 238
Subjects: American literature -- 1783-1850 -- History and criticism.; Literature and society -- United States -- History -- 19th century.; Literature and society -- United States -- History -- 18th century.; National characteristics, American, in literature.; African Americans in literature.; Slavery in literature.; Indians in literature.; Race in literature.
Description: In Master Plots, Jared Gardner examines the tangled intersection of racial and national discourses in early American narrative. While it is well known that the writers of the early national period were preoccupied with differentiating their work from European models, Gardner argues that the national literature of the United States was equally motivated by the desire to differentiate white Americans from blacks and Indians.

To achieve these ends, early American writers were drawn to fantasies of an "American race," and an American literature came to be defined not only by its desire for cultural uniqueness but also by its defense of racial purity.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [215]-231) and index.