Charles Brockden Brown, 1771-1810.

While these earliest examples of the American novel are of interest historically, -- and interesting mainly on that ground alone, -- there appeared before the close of the century one or two essays in prose fiction which possess decided merit on the ground of technical construction and on that of genuine narrative power. These were the early romances of Charles Brockden Brown.

As an essayist on moral as well as literary themes, Brown wrote with a style noticeably strong and vivid. In 1797, Charles Brockden Brown published his first volume “Alçuin: a Dialogue on the Rights of Women”. It did not meet with success. But following this, Brown produced in rapid succession a series of remarkable novels which won for their author contemporary distinction, and, historically regarded, hold a very notable place in American literature. The titles of these novels are: “Wieland or the Transformation”; “Ormond or the Secret Witness”; “Arthur Mervyn”; “Edgar Huntley”; “Clara Howard”; and “Jane Talbot”. The first of these was published in 1798; the remainder, before the end of 1801. Besides writing his novels, Brown was also conducting a magazine “The Monthly Magazine” and “American Review”, which consisted almost entirely of his own contributions. Near the close of 1800, the novelist returned to Philadelphia, where he founded “The Literary Magazine” and “American Register”, and where he continued to write miscellaneous articles on political, biographical, and historical subjects until his death at the age of thirty-nine.

The novels of Charles Brockden Brown are seldom read to-day; but they attracted general attention at the time of their appearance, and won the approbation of some European writers, including Scott and Shelley, who gave them a high rank. The plots of these stories are psychological and are based on mystery; the incomprehensible and the horrible are invoked to stimulate interest. The general tone of the narratives may be properly described as morbid, -- a tone which pervades the series as a whole.

In “Wieland” the principal characters are introduced under the spell of a mysterious catastrophe suggesting the attack of some malignant force which may be the product of electricity, or of spontaneous combustion. Mysterious voices are heard which are finally accounted for by the confession of an ill-disposed ventriloquist. A dreadful crime is committed by a person insane with religious mania; and disaster overwhelms an entire family through the operation of these mysterious agencies which, at the last, are but unsatisfactorily explained. In "Arthur Mervyn”, the scene is laid in Philadelphia during an epidemic of yellow fever (1793), and the ghastly details of that visitation are faithfully reproduced. In “Edgar Huntley”, there is an attempt at murder committed during temporary madness; the madman afterwards commits suicide while the intended victim escapes. The principal personage in the story is a somnambulist.

These novels of Charles Brockden Brown are not unimpressive in their realistic portrayal of horrible and loathsome scenes, and in their appeal to the sentiments of curiosity and terror; they fail in characterization and in life-likeness. A significant feature of Brown's work is the fact that he always made use of American scenes.

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