ENG 2103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Print Culture
30 Sep 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
27/09/2016: hector st. john de cr vecoeur (1735-1813) Cosmopolitan writer of the late 18th century: born in france, studied in england, travelled in quebec and british north. America: fought in 7 years" war, wounded @ plains of abraham. Part of canadian history: big part of british imperial system of usa. Had no distinctive idea of america as separate from britain. Two longer editions were subsequently published in french: three different versions of this book in two languages. American people interpreted it as celebrating this new liberty in america: not what he intended. Cr vecoeur = just as important in literary history as benjamin franklin. Idealistic view of america as a place in which immigrants from europe find freedom. Contrastingly negative portrayal of the cruelty of slavery. Other letters consist of observations of nature/regions of colonial north america. Letter 12 (not included) criticizes the american revolution: sympathetic to loyalism. Writes in the persona of james simple farmer in pennsylvania.
