----- Original Message ----- From: Linda Endersby <[log in to unmask]> Date: Monday, December 3, 2007 10:42 pm Subject: H-SHGAPE Book Review: Stokes on Claybaugh, _The Novel of Purpose_ To: [log in to unmask] > H-NET BOOK REVIEW > Published by [log in to unmask] (December 2007) > > Amanda Claybaugh. _The Novel of Purpose: Literature and Social > Reform in > the Anglo-American World_. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, > 2007. 264 > pages. Notes, bibliography, index. $45.00 (cloth), ISBN 0-8014- > 4480-2. > > Reviewed for H-SHGAPE by Claudia Stokes, Department of English, > TrinityUniversity > > Realists and Reformers in the Nineteenth Century > > > Amid the violence and tensions of contemporary globalization, it is > perhaps unsurprising that American literary historians of the > last decade > have been preoccupied by literary transnationalism. As with the > work of > such critics as Anna Brickhouse, Wai Chee Dimock, and Kirsten > Silva Gruesz > (among many others), this field of research has carefully > exposed the > international contexts of American literature and put pressure > on the > nationalist borders that have always delimited literary history. > AmandaClaybaugh's new book, _The Novel of Purpose_, is a worthy > contribution to > this growing field of transnational literary history.[1] > > In a work of impressive range and depth, Claybaugh focuses on the > exchanges and reciprocal influences of American and English > novelists of > the nineteenth century. Several concentric arguments thread through > Claybaugh's book, but the most foundational is the contention that > English-language print culture in the nineteenth century was > above all > transnational, bound together by transatlantic reprinting, > circulation,and mutual influence. And of all these connective > links, social reform, > Claybaugh argues, was particularly potent in binding together > the two > nations and their literatures, functioning as a "central conduit > for these > exchanges" (p. 27). As writers on both sides of the Atlantic crafted > narratives documenting social ills, they not only consolidated this > transatlantic interconnection but also produced a literary > genre, "the > novel of purpose" (p. 34), which would flourish through the end > of the > century. With ample textual evidence and useful case studies, > Claybaughshows how readers and reviewers came to expect > purposefulness from novels > and how writers, as varied as Charles Dickens and Mark Twain, > consequentlycomplied by adopting the forms of the novel of > purpose--even if they were > sometimes unsympathetic to the reformist campaigns they > depicted. And it > is in pursuit of this inquiry that Claybaugh makes her most > compelling and > important argument: that the nineteenth-century novel was > composed and > read "according to expectations learned from social reform" (p. > 7). That > is, they were expected to adopt a moral position and use > narrative to > effect social change. > > Claybaugh's book proceeds chronologically, beginning with a > discussion of > Harriet Martineau's 1830s reformist tours of the United States > and closing > with Twain's denunciation of Belgian imperial aggression in the early > twentieth century. The book's first two chapters function as an > extendedintroduction and carefully plot out the foundational > terms of her > argument: the interconnectedness of literary Anglo-America and the > relation of reformist fiction to realist fiction. Five chapters on > individual writers' engagements in purposeful fiction follow, > and they > impressively span from Dickens to Twain and Thomas Hardy, with > studies of > Anne Brontė, George Eliot, Henry James, and Elizabeth Stoddard > along the > way. Many of Claybaugh's case studies are unexpected and fresh. Rather > than examining such true believers as William Dean Howells, one > of the > chief American exponents of purposeful fiction, Claybaugh > instead analyzes > ambivalent and even suspicious writers who complied with or > resisted these > generic expectations. In so doing, she shows how pervasive and even > mandatory such concessions were in a literary climate still > suspicious of > novels. In addition, Claybaugh provides illuminating and original > interpretations of such reluctant reformist novels as Stoddard's > _Morgesons_ (1862) and Twain's _Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_ > (1885),tracing how these writers adapted stock reform narratives > and characters > to their own political and novelistic ends. > > The book is organized by a demonstrable interest in exploring > the dynamics > of literary pairings and couples. This manifests itself in the book's > inquiry not only into the literary relations of England and the United > States but also into the connections between individual pairs of > writerswho, though separated by the Atlantic, read and reviewed > each others' > works, as with the chapters devoted to the relationships between > Brontėand Stoddard and between Eliot and James. Even chapters > devoted to single > authors evince this thematic of pairs; for example, in her > chapter on > Dickens, Claybaugh characterizes his disastrous 1842 tour of the > UnitedStates as a turning point in his attitudes toward > reformist fiction, and > this pivot enables her to juxtapose his writings before and > after his > disillusionment with American life and manners. Typically, however, > Claybaugh begins her chapters by introducing the relationships > that link > these pairs, examines them individually, and then recouples them > thematically at the end of the chapters. Claybaugh nimbly > manages what > might be a strained arrangement in someone else's hands, and > these pairs > enable her to explore particular features of purposeful novels, > such as > their handling of the marriage plot or the expectation of exemplary > characters. > > _The Novel of Purpose_ is densely packed with finely honed > arguments and > observations, but a few points merit mention. First, Claybaugh's > discussion of realism is a refreshing and important contribution > to a > well-worked-over field. With admirable poise, she offers a > precise and > clear definition of realism, distinguishes Anglo-American from > continentalrealism, and charts the complicated history of > realist criticism over the > last several decades. She differentiates her own work from the 1980s > practice of analyzing the politics of realist writers, such as > Howells,James, and Wharton, only to pronounce them unacceptable; > instead,Claybaugh steps away from this transhistorical critical > practice to > provide useful, historically rooted analyses of nineteenth- > century writers > within their own political contexts and within their own terms. > Second,temperance narratives have received a revival of > attention in recent > years, and Claybaugh's contribution to the field is rich and > fascinating.She dubs temperance reform "the storytelling reform" > (p. 59) because of > its reliance on narratives tracing ruinous poverty to alcohol > consumption.She detects two pervasive narratives in temperance > literature, and she > shows how they came to be widely used by writers who adapted > them to their > own interests in marriage reform, as was the case with Stoddard and > Brontė. > > Claybaugh's chapter on Hardy is perhaps the least successful. It > seeks to > show how he, like Dickens, disavowed reformist fiction only to > embrace its > successes retroactively, but the argument is not well served by the > chapter's organization, which is broken up into discrete > sections on such > topics as the New Woman and loses the argument's thread. The > chapter, too, > lacks the transatlantic dimension of the book's other chapters, > though her > reading of _Jude the Obscure_ (1895) is no less significant. > > These matters aside, _The Novel of Purpose_ is well written, > impressivelyresearched, and wide ranging. Claybaugh offers an > important and long > overdue analysis of this novelistic genre, and her book deserves > to rank > among the finest recent contributions to transnational literary > history. > Note > > [1]. See Anna Brickhouse, _Transamerican Literary Relations and the > Nineteenth-Century Public Sphere_. Cambridge: Cambridge > University Press, > 2004; Wai Chee Dimock, _Through Other Continents: American > LiteratureAcross Deep Time_. Princeton: Princeton > University Press, 2006; and > Kirsten Silva Gruesz, _Ambassadors of Culture: The > Transamerican Origins > of Latino Writing_. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002. > > > Copyright (c) 2007 by > H-Net, all rights reserved. H-Net permits > the redistribution > and reprinting of this work for nonprofit, > educational purposes, > with full and accurate attribution to the > author, web location, > date of publication, originating list, and > H-Net: Humanities & > Social Sciences Online. For other uses > contact the Reviews > editorial staff: [log in to unmask] > Jack Blocker History, Huron University College The University of Western Ontario 1349 Western Road London, Ontario N6G 1H3 Canada Phone (519) 439-5937 Fax (519) 438-3938