Department of English
Writing the Journey: June 1999
"American travelers to England in the 19th century, or paying for the roof on our old home"
Donald Ross
Department of English, University of Minnesota
rossj001@tc.umn.edu
"... great are the claims of housekeeping. Houses are eaters of men. Our ëLondon Lecturesí in Boston have a tolerable success."
Waldo Emerson to his brother, William, February 3, 1849
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Six Americans -- Margaret Fuller, Bayard Taylor, Herman Melville, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Nathaniel Hawthorne -- all famous in various ways and at various times, visited England in the middle of the last century. All were acutely aware of the possibilities of turning their field notes into popular books. To accomplish this, they picked different mediums or genres to make innovative contributions to the literature of travel. And, all wrestled publicly with their situations as literally post- colonial subjects visiting the metropolis to position the United States vis-á-vis its mother country.
Iíll look at the issues from three perspectives.
- Not to diminish the literary quality of these works (which at times is quite good), itís useful to suggest that they were written partly for the money they could bring. The authorsí prefaces and private writings (letters, journals) detail their self-awareness about the potential of turning their travels into marketable commodities. Thereís a fine allegory in Hawthorne's title, since Our Old Home, published in installments in The Atlantic, was the main source of funds the Hawthornes needed to expand their old home, The Wayside, to make room for their now grown-up children.
- These writings include newspaper dispatches (Fuller), a novelization (Melville), a collection of essays based on several seasons of lectures (Emerson), and three more traditional travel accounts. For example, Melville's novel Redburn was written following the commercial and critical failure of his fanciful Mardi, and he quite consciously went back to the verifiable and authentic mode of his first two books. Redburn was later taken to be a reliable autobiography and it is the sole source for information about his 1839 trip to and from England. Its depiction of England meshes well with the other writersí putatively non-fictional accounts.
- The writers accepted their positions as ìpost-colonial subjectsî -- as men and women quite aware of Americaís past situation relative to what Stowe calls ìstrong old England,î the mother of us all. Nearly all of the writers wind up claiming that they, as foreigners, really appreciate Scotlandís and Englandís literary heritage more than do the locals. However, in several cases, these writersí diffidence is privately linked to the potential English publishers and reviewers of their books. The authors know that, if they are too critical, they will diminish the secondary London market for their books. Emerson, among this group, articulates most clearly the dilemma that England is thriving commercially, but is ultimately falling apart spiritually, and thus presents at best an ambiguous model for Americaís future. Others deplore the extent of begging in English cities, and gloat over the comparison with the United States. Fuller, when she sees the gin mills and women wandering the streets of Liverpool, exclaims that ìThe houses of England! their sweetness is melting into fable.î These republican Americans try their best to exploit England for both personal and rhetorical gain.
Interleaving these six works gives us a sharp perspective into the American travel writing industry. The matter of England was welcome and profitable subject matter, and these writings played a role in America s renegotiating its relationship with England for a new generation.
Donald Ross
University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis, MN 55455.
(612) 625-5585
rossj001@tc.umn.edu
http://english.cla.umn.edu/Faculty/Ross/ross.htm
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