Newspapers & Periodicals

An Extensive Republic - pg.389-409
Newspapers & Periodicals
Andie Tucher

So, I have a question. Can we read an entire book by Andie Tucher? I found this section entertaining--which may say quite a lot about what kind of early American periodical I would subscribe to-- and informative. I loved the colorful language and tongue-in-cheek moments. My kinda writing, really.

I found Tucher's comments on reprinting interesting, and although we've spoken about this several times in class, I was particularly struck by this passage: "Always heavily represented was news from Europe or Washington that had been copied, with or without attribution, from other papers. Some country editors, relying on a provision in the 1972 Post Office Ace that allowed any editor to exchange his paper with any other postage-free, might fill half or more of their news hole with items reprinted from other organs around the country and the world. In a country paper, originally did not count, and the publication of a novel or local fare was often taken as a sign of editorial desperation, a last resort when the mail carrying more important tidings was late." (Tucher 296)

Tucher goes on to mention the lateness of reprinted news-- which we've seen a bit in our search areas in class-- and provides a few examples of really really late news…which I find so difficult to imagine, given our current wealth of information technology.

There were a two things that struck me about the passage I've quoted above. The first, of course, involves me attempting to wrap my feeble brain around the challenge of doing any kind of productive research, particularly on periodicals, pre-Internet/databases. How lucky are we, really? Can we all just take a minute to appreciate our ability to trace these crazy reprints via all the wonderful databases that we're provided? I feel a bit spoiled, honestly.

Secondly, I'm interested in the shift from publishers always waiting for the "mail carrying more important tidings," to a recognition that what was going on locally was of enough importance to be circulated. The last sentence in the above quoted paragraph really struck me as emphasizing the value placed on what everybody else was up to, rather than an interest in the local community that a country paper might serve.

The Revolution's Legacy for the History of the Book

An Extensive Republic - pg.58-74
The Revolution's Legacy for the History of the Book
Richard D. Brown

For this week, I was struck by a particular passage in which Richard Brown discusses Thomas Paine's Common Sense.

"Paine crystallized a broad, popular sense of citizenship, jealous of privilege and eager to use print to enter into discussions of public affairs. Although they were suspicious of privilege and galvanized by Paine's earthy rhetoric, in the quest for greater political influence common folk would in time be reading many of the same literary, historical, and political texts that circulated among the elite and emulating genteel rhetoric." (67)

Man, I find this fascinating. It reminds me of the suspicious attitude that is put on academics, that whole "too much knowledge" thing that I've always been baffled by. It made me laugh, first of all, and I think it's a really great and important point. To think of someone getting all up in arms after reading Common Sense and charging around with a mind to weigh in on public affairs, but then realizing that maybe they have more in common with the "elite" than they expected? Kinda cute, Americans.

I guess this really says something about the idea that the circulation of knowledge as it reflects on who has the "control" of the nation. While texts like Common Sense incite excited patriotism and a desire to become involved in public affairs, they are also promoting education beyond their pages by influencing their readers to quest for "greater political influence".

An Extensive Republic- Introduction

Overall, I enjoyed this introduction-- except that it made me wish I had more space in my brain for all the interesting details that Gross provides. Although the writing style is a bit snoreworthy, my interest in early American print culture has survived due to these little details, and I've been particularly interested in the stuff about nineteenth century libraries and their tumultuous relationship with the early novel.

"Most of the social libraries that were started in the early republic aimed to bring 'useful knowledge' to their members, chiefly in the form of substantial works of nonfiction-- histories, biographies, geographies, travels, practical science." (43)

First of all, can we agree that it's difficult to imagine a library without a healthy dose of fiction? Along with being tickled by the assumption that 'useful knowledge' is limited to works of nonfiction, it just all sounds so….dull.

"An up-to-date collection could not avoid novels, and so long as they were thought morally improving and restricted to a modest number, the social libraries gave in to popular demand and furnished them. But the popular enthusiasm for fiction overwhelmed the custodians of culture." (43)

Now, I'll admit that I've taken to defensively overanalyzing what is meant by the use of the word 'popular'. On the one hand, I understand that the term does have the ability to merely suggest the level of interest a particular item/idea/abstraction has received. However, I don't think that anybody ever describes something as 'popular' without attaching to it some kind of value, be it negative or positive. I find it interesting when reading the above quote by Gross, that while today we may find ourselves siding with the 'popular enthusiasm for fiction' and shaking our fists at the 'custodians of culture' who attempted to limit the availability of the novel, we also tend to distance ourselves from the 'popular' as it is described today.

Sometimes academics remind me of hipsters. You know? Those "I listened/read/saw that band/book/movie before it was popular" kids. The ones who look down on 'popular' media and attach to the phrase as many negative connotations as they can. Popular, after all, isn't cool. But then, when we really think about it-- these expressed values indicate an opinion similar to the 'custodians of culture' that Gross mentions in his introduction….and if the early American hipsters had gotten their way, if popular enthusiasm for fiction had been shunned and barred from social libraries…where would we be now?