skip to content
America and the Americans--in 1833-4, by an emigrant Preview this item
ClosePreview this item
  • Preview this Item (Questia)

America and the Americans--in 1833-4, by an emigrant

Author: Richard Gooch; Toby Widdicombe
Publisher: New York : Fordham University Press, 1994.
Edition/Format:   Book : Biography : EnglishView all editions and formats
Summary:
America and the Americans - in 1833-4 is a polemical, satirical account of Gooch's purported travels in America, focusing primarily on New York City and its environs. Never previously published, this work adds an original voice to the nineteenth-century debate over the status of the United States as an emerging cultural power. A large part of Widdicombe's achievement is his bringing to light this unjustly neglected  Read more...
Rating:

(not yet rated) 0 with reviews - Be the first.

 

Find a copy in the library

Retrieving... Finding libraries that hold this item...

Details

Genre/Form: [récit de voyage]
Named Person: Richard Gooch
Material Type: Biography
Document Type: Book
All Authors / Contributors: Richard Gooch; Toby Widdicombe
ISBN: 0823215946 9780823215942 0823215954 9780823215959
OCLC Number: 31295313
Description: xlviii, 237 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
Responsibility: Richard Gooch ; edited, with an introduction and notes, by Richard Toby Widdicombe.
More information:

Abstract:

America and the Americans - in 1833-4 is a polemical, satirical account of Gooch's purported travels in America, focusing primarily on New York City and its environs. Never previously published, this work adds an original voice to the nineteenth-century debate over the status of the United States as an emerging cultural power. A large part of Widdicombe's achievement is his bringing to light this unjustly neglected author - a storyteller, poet, and perceptive observer who spent his most productive years on the edges of power and public recognition in Georgian and early Victorian England. Widdicombe frames this unique "travelogue" with a short biography of Gooch, extensive textual and historical notes, an essay on Anglo-American travel literature, and a coda: "On the Perils of Oblivion." A key to the value of Gooch's account is its unique arrangement by subject matter: Gooch examines the American legal system, banks, labor; American policy toward Indians and blacks; New York City government and its electoral system, among other topics. The arrangement makes Gooch's satire far more entertaining, substantial, and informative than most travelogues written in the same period. It also allows Gooch to sustain his polemic - an effort to re-orient the British attitude toward the United States and stem the tide of expatriates to its shores. Gooch's remarkable analysis of American life, studded with relevant facts taken from daily headlines, is heightened by mystery: How much, if any, did Gooch actually observe firsthand, and how much, if any, did he shape with the powers of his narrative talent? Widdicombe provides some clues; the reader will be challenged to render the verdict.

Reviews

User-contributed reviews
Retrieving weRead reviews...
Retrieving GoodReads reviews...
Retrieving Amazon reviews...

Tags

Be the first.
Confirm this request

You may have already requested this item. Please select Ok if you would like to proceed with this request anyway.

Close Window

Please sign in to WorldCat 

Don't have an account? You can easily create a free account.