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?