7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
the early beginnings of american literature, December 31, 2000
Having to rate a book like this is no easy task. I give it four stars as a sort of average. The edition itself, with a solid introduction by Emory Eliot, is very good. The novel, like all of Brown's works, is a somewhat unsatisfying effort.
That said, let me add quickly that this novel is a must-read, without a doubt. This truly Gothic tale will keep you in suspence from start to finish--and guess what, Brown even claims a historical precedent for the narrator's brother slaughtering his wife and children. This is Real TV!
It is not a great novel (although superior to, for instance, "Edgar Huntly" and "Stephen Calvert") but it is a fascinating one. Brown was quick to jump on the bandwagon of female fiction that proved to be the bestseller in 19th century America, and this semi-epistolary tale by a female narrator is fascinating if only for the problems its form poses. For instance, its epistolary character, meant to create a sense of urgency and directness, never convinces due to its pretentious literate (read, latinate) diction and syntax. Moreover, Brown's choice of a female narrator--a man writing like a woman writing like a man--, while marketable in 1798, shows that he always bites off much more than he can chew. A much better (and earlier, 1797!) example of a female epistolary novel is Hannah W. Foster's "The Coquette," available in a wonderful edition also by the Oxford UP.
Unlike what some would have you believe, Brown is not the earliest American novelist. It is interesting to note that some of his fans claim Brown instead of Cooper, completely forgetting the books put out by female authors and read mainly by women. I might add that Brown had a male predecessor also, a namesake, William Hill Brown ("The Power of Sympathy," 1789): one shouldn't try to simplify the history of early American literature. However, to come to grips with American literature, and especially its love for the Gothic (mystery, murder, incest), "Wieland" is a great start, and this is a very good edition.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A challenge worth taking on...., October 14, 2010
This review is from: Wieland; or the Transformation and Memoirs of Carwin, The Biloquist (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)
First, let me say that this is not the type of thing I tend to read. I've read reviews of this book by people who were assigned this text for a class -- and they hated or did not finish it because it's written in a somewhat old and advanced type of prose. I was actually surprised how much I enjoyed it once I kept reading and got into it.
As a work of horror fiction, it does have some genuinely creepy moments here and there, and plenty of suspense, but to me at least, it satisfies much more as a kind of "cozy" rural mystery. There's also some romance thrown in toward the middle. "Wieland" does grab you eventually, and it has a thick atmosphere of Gothic doom over the characters, but from a source that stays well-hidden until the end.
I have to agree with the prime criticisms thrown at this book; that the explanations given for the events were essentially too far flung, too amazing to be believed. I would also say that more of a tie should have been made between the prelude about the father and the later events that happen to his son and daughter. I would recommend this book only to those who are truly committed to reading older Gothic tales, or what some consider "America's earliest novel."
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
American Gothic, March 10, 2010
This review is from: Wieland; or the Transformation and Memoirs of Carwin, The Biloquist (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)
One of the earliest American authors--and guess what, our literature starts with horror! A fun window onto the uncertainty and dread that were a part of this country's beginnings. Spooky voices, impersonation, and religious fanaticism always equal quality entertainment.
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