This broad introduction to Colonial American literatures brings out the comparative and transatlantic nature of the writing of this period and highlights the interactions between native, non-scribal groups, and Europeans that helped to shape early American writing.
Situates the writing of this period in its various historical and cultural contexts, including colonialism, imperialism, diaspora, and nation formation.
Highlights interactions between native, non-scribal groups and Europeans during the early centuries of exploration.
Covers a wide range of approaches to defining and reading early American writing.
Looks at the development of regional spheres of influence in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Serves as a vital adjunct to Castillo and Schweitzers The Literatures of Colonial America: An Anthology (Blackwell Publishing, 2001).

Susan Castillo is John Nichol Professor of American Literature at Glasgow University. Her books includeNotes from the Periphery: Marginality in North American Literature and Culture (1995),Engendering Identities (1996) andNative American Women in Literature and Culture (1997, with Victor Da Rosa).

Ivy Schweitzer is Associate Professor of English at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, and teaches in the Women's Studies, Comparative Literature and Jewish Studies Programs. She is the author ofThe Work of Self-Representation: Lyric Poetry in Colonial New England (1991).

Together, they are also the editors ofThe Literatures of Colonial America: An Anthology (Blackwell Publishing, 2001).

InhaltsangabeList of Figures.

Notes on Contributors.

Part 1. Issues and Methods.

1. Prologomenal Thinking: Some Possibilities and Limits of Comparative Desire (Teresa A. Toulouse).

2. First Peoples: An introduction to Early Native American Studies (Joanna Brooks).

3. Toward a Cultural Geography of Colonial American Literature: Empire, location, Creolization (Ralph Bauer).

4. Textual Investments: Economics and Colonial American Literatures (Michelle Burnham).

5. The Culture of Colonial America: Theology and Aesthetics (Paul Giles).

6. Teaching the Text of Early American Literature (Michael P. Clark).

7. Teaching with the New Technology: Three Intriguing Opportunities (Edward J. Gallagher).

Part II. New World Encounters.

8. Recovering Precolonial American Literary History: "The Origin of Stories" and the Popol Vuh (Timothy B. Powell).

9. Toltec Mirrors: European and Native Americans in Each Other’s Eyes (Renée Bergland).

10. Reading for Indian Resistance (Bethany Ridgway Schneider).

11. Refocusing New Spain and Spanish Colonization: Malinche, Guadalupe, and Sor Juana (Electa Arenal and Yolanda Martínez-San Miguel).

12. British Colonial Expansion Westwards: Ireland and America (Andrew Hadfield).

13. The French Relation and its "Hidden" Colonial History (Sara E. Melzer).

14. Visions of the Other in Sixteenth and Seventeenth–Century Writing on Brazil (Elena Losada Soler).

15. New World Ethnography, the Caribbean, and Behn’s Oroonoko (Derek Hughes).

Part III. Negotiating Identities.

16. Gendered Voices from Lima and Mexico: Clarinda, Amarilis, and Sor Juana (Raquel Chang-Radríguez).

17. Cleansing Mexican Antiquity: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and the loa to The Divine narcissus (Viviana Díaz Balsera).

18. Hemispheric Americanism: Latin American Exiles and US Revolutionary Writings (Rodrigo Lazo).

19. Putting Together the Pieces: Notes on the Eighteenth-Century Literary Imagination (Douglas Anderson).

20. The Transoceanic Emergence of American "Postcolonial" Identities (Gesa Mackenthun).

Part IV. Genres and Writers: Cross-Cultural Conversations.

21. The Genres of Exploration and Conquest Literatures (E. Thomson Shields).

22. The Conversion Narrative in Early America (Lisa M. Gordis).

23. Indigenous Literacies: New England and New Spain (Hilary E. Wyss).

24. America’s First Mass Media: Preaching and the Protestant Sermon Tradition (Gregory S. Jackson).

25. Neither Here Not There: Transatlantic Epistolary in Early America (Philip H. Round).

26. True Relations and Critical Fictions: The case of the Personal Narrative in Colonial American Literatures (Kathleen Donegan).

27. "Cross-Cultural Conversations": The captivity Narrative (Lisa M. Logan).

28. Epic, Creoles, and nation in Spanish America (José Antonio Mazzotti).

29. Plainness and Paradox: Colonial Tensions in the Early New England Religious Lyric (Amy M. E. Morris).

30. Captivating Animals: Science and Spectacle in Early American natural Histories (Kathryn Napier Gray).

31. Challenging Conventional Historiography: The Roaming "I"/Eye in Early Colonial American Eyewitness Accounts (Jerry M. Williams).

32. Republican Theatricaity and Transatlantic Empire (Elizabeth Maddock Dillon).

33. Reading Early American Fiction (Winfried Fluck).

Index.

List of Figures ix

Notes on Contributors xi

Introduction 1
Ivy Schweitzer and Susan Castillo

Part I Issues and Methods 7

1 Prologomenal Thinking: Some Possibilities and Limits of Comparative Desire 9
Teresa A. Toulouse

2 First Peoples: An Introduction to Early Native American Studies 24
Joanna Brooks

3 Toward a Cultural Geography of Colonial American Literatures: Empire, Location, Creolization 38
Ralph Bauer

4 Textual Investments: Economics and Colonial American Literatures 60
Michelle Burnham

5 The Culture of Colonial America: Theology and Aesthetics 78
Paul Giles

6 Teaching the Text of Early American Literature 94
Michael P. Clark

7 Teaching with the New Technology: Three Intriguing Opportunities 110
Edward J. Gallagher

Part II New World Encounters 121

8 Recovering Precolonial American Literary History: The Origin of Stories and the Popol Vuh 123
Timothy B. Powell

9 Toltec Mirrors: Europeans and Native Americans in Each Others Eyes 141
Renée Bergland

10 Reading for Indian Resistance 159
Bethany Ridgway Schneider

11 Refocusing New Spain and Spanish Colonization: Malinche, Guadalupe, and Sor Juana 174
Electa Arenal and Yolanda Martínez-San Miguel

12 British Colonial Expansion Westwards: Ireland and America 195
Andrew Hadfield

13 The French Relation and Its Hidden Colonial History 220
Sara E. Melzer

14 Visions of the Other in Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century Writing on Brazil 241
Elena Losada Soler

15 New World Ethnography, the Caribbean, and Behns Oroonoko 259
Derek Hughes

Part III Negotiating Identities 275

16 Gendered Voices from Lima and Mexico: Clarinda, Amarilis, and Sor Juana 277
Raquel Chang-Rodríguez

17 Cleansing Mexican Antiquity: Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz and the loa to The Divine Narcissus 292
Viviana Díaz Balsera

18 Hemispheric Americanism: Latin American Exiles and US Revolutionary Writings 306
Rodrigo Lazo

19 Putting Together the Pieces: Notes on the Eighteenth-Century Literary Imagination 321
Douglas Anderson

20 The Transoceanic Emergence of American Postcolonial Identities 336
Gesa Mackenthun

Part IV Genres and Writers: Cross-Cultural Conversations 351

21 The Genres of Exploration and Conquest Literatures 353
E. Thomson Shields, Jr.

22 The Conversion Narrative in Early America 369
Lisa M. Gordis

23 Indigenous Literacies: New England and New Spain 387
Hilary E. Wyss

24 Americas First Mass Media: Preaching and the Protestant Sermon Tradition 402
Gregory S. Jackson

25 Neither Here Nor There: Transatlantic Epistolarity in Early America 426
Phillip H. Round

26 True Relations and Critical Fictions: The Case of the Personal Narrative in Colonial American Literatures 446
Kathleen Donegan

27 Cross-Cultural Conversations: The Captivity Narrative 464
Lisa M. Logan

28 Epic, Creoles, and Nation in Spanish America 480
José Antonio Mazzotti

29 Plainness and Paradox: Colonial Tensions in the Early New England Religious Lyric 500
Amy M. E. Morris

30 Captivating Animals: Science and Spectacle in Early American Natural Histories 517
Kathryn Napier Gray

31 Challenging Conventional Historiography: The Roaming I/Eye in Early Colonial American Eyewitness Accounts 533
Jerry M. Williams

32 Republican Theatricality and Transatlantic Empire 551
Elizabeth Maddock Dillon

33 Reading Early American Fiction 566
Winfried Fluck

Index 587