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“Canonized in History”

Literary Tourism and 19th-Century Writers’ Houses in New England

Szlezák, Klara Stephanie

American Studies – A Monograph Series, Bd. 250

2016

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Abstract

With the help of three case studies – the homes of Longfellow, Dickinson, and Melville –, this book explores the multiple cultural implications of literary tourism, as a cultural practice emerging from an interest in writers and literature, in the context of New England. Many 19th-century New England writers, particularly those both canonized and challenged as the writers of the American Renaissance, became the object of tourist interest at various points in time and under diverse circumstances, and their former houses have manifold meanings within today’s American tourism landscape. As sites of memory, museum spaces, and tourist sites, they stand as markers of both a regional and a national literary culture, signify the perennial appeal of the private family home, and engage visitors in unique and yet familiar sights and scripted performances. As both material manifestations of canonical literature and forms of leisure, they evidence the untenability of the divide between “high” and popular culture.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

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Cover C
Title Page iii
Copyright iv
Table of Contents ix
Acknowledgements xi
Prelude xiii
1 Introduction: New England Writers’ Houses—Cradles of American Literature 1
2 Literary Tourism and 19th-Century Writers’ Houses in New England: Contexts, Perspectives, Implications 11
2.1 Literary Tourism: Definitions, Variants, and Development 11
2.2 Literary Tourism in the Academy 17
2.3 Methodological and Conceptual Parameters 21
2.3.1 19th-Century Writers’ Houses in New England as Tourist Sites 24
2.3.2 The Sights of 19th-Century Writers’ Houses in New England 37
2.3.3 Literary Tourism at 19th-Century New England Writers’ Houses as Performance 83
2.3.4 Commodification at 19th-Century Writers’ Houses in New England 97
3 “Yes, within this very room”: Merging the Discourses of Region and Nation at Longfellow House–Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site 107
3.1 The House at 105 Brattle Street, Cambridge: A Brief Historical Overview, 1759-1950 108
3.2 The Onset of Literary Tourism at 105 Brattle Street 114
3.3 Appropriating the House, Appropriating the Legacy 119
3.4 Naming the House, Branding the Place 125
3.5 Alignment of Political, Cultural, and Literary History 136
3.6 Transcending and Asserting the Region 144
Illustrations Chapter 2 155
Illustrations Chapter 3 160
4 “Home is a holy thing—”: Making the Private Public at the Emily Dickinson Museum 171
4.1 The House at 280 Main Street, Amherst: A Brief Historical Overview, 1813-1965 173
4.2 Two Houses, One Museum 177
4.3 “Quintessentially Private”?—The Elusiveness of Emily Dickinson 187
4.4 Claiming Emily 193
4.5 Reconstructing Privacy, Inviting the Public 202
4.6 The Writer’s Sanctum 210
5 “My room seems a ship’s cabin”: Popularizing the Non-Popular at Herman Melville’s Arrowhead 217
5.1 The House at 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield: A Brief Historical Overview, 1780s-1975 219
5.2 Melville’s House and Berkshire County History 224
5.3 Climbed Canons and Unread Books 232
5.4 Neglecting and Retrieving the Writer 241
5.5 Obstacles to Exhibiting Melville at Arrowhead 250
5.6 A Piazza and a Mountain: Arrowhead’s Melvilliana 256
Illustrations Chapter 4 271
Illustrations Chapter 5 279
6 Conclusion 287
List of Illustrations 293
Archival Materials 299
Bibliography 309
Index 337