To Read My Heart: The Journal of Rachel Van Dyke, 1810-1811 [Hardcover]

Rachel Van Dyke (Author), Lucia McMahon (Editor), Deborah Schriver (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2000

To Read My Heart: The Journal of Rachel Van Dyke, 1810-1811, a compelling primary document previously unpublished, offers insights into the life and mind of a seventeen-year-old young woman, while also providing a fascinating window into the cultural and social landscape of the early national period. Rachel Van Dyke was a thoughtful, intelligent observer, and her journal is an important account of upper- and middle-class life in the growing city of New Brunswick, New Jersey. Her entries reveal her remarkably considered views on social customs, marriage, gender roles, friendship, and religion.

The journal is dominated by two interrelated themes: Rachel's desire to broaden her knowledge and her friendship with her teacher, Ebenezer Grosvenor. Since Ebenezer was both her teacher and her romantic interest, it is impossible to distinguish between the themes of education and romance that dominate her writings. On several occasions, Rachel and Ebenezer exchanged their private journals with each other. During these exchanges, Ebenezer added comments in the margins of Rachel's journal, producing areas of written "conversation" between them. The marginalia add to the complexity of the journal and provide evidence of and insight into Rachel's romantic and intellectual relationship with him. The written interactions between Rachel and Ebenezer, together with discussions of friendship and courtship rituals provided throughout the journal, enrich our understanding of social life during the early national period.

To Read My Heart will be of interest to students of American history, women's studies, and nineteenth-century literature; all readers will be captivated by the rich expression andemotional experience of the journal. Whether she is relating the story of a young friend's wedding, the death of a small boy, or the capture of a slave in Guinea, Rachel's pages have universal appeal as she seeks to understand her own role as an emerging adult.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 424 pages
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press (June 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812235495
• ISBN-13: 978-0812235494
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,012,502 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Rare Glimpse into a Woman's Life, May 29, 2004

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This review is from: To Read My Heart: The Journal of Rachel Van Dyke, 1810-1811 (Hardcover)

Here is something rare. Rachel van Dyke was a young American woman who wrote a diary from 1810 to 1811. Unpublished in her lifetime. Indeed, almost certainly never meant to be published. In her diary, she poured out the circumstances of her life and surroundings, and her hopes and dreams.

She was clearly an educated, middle to upper class woman, at a time when any such education for a woman in her social class was somewhat unusual, though not unknown. The diary is quite literate. Its value to us is as a mirror into the lifestyle of women of the early 19th century. Because the literature from that time that was published by women is very scarce. Social mores were against it. So that some writers, like George Sand, felt compelled to adopt male pseudonyms. Those women that somehow did get published had to conform to the expectations of men.

This diary, however, was presumably not subject to that censorship. A rare find. There are suggestions of a demure romantic interest with one of her male acquaintances.

The book ends on an uncertain note. Unlike a novel, there is no clear ending. Historians have been unable to trace her life afterwards. She disappeared into the fabric of American society. One can only hope that she lived it well.