Wieland or The Transformation:

An American TaleCharles Brockden Brown (1771-1810)

Published in 1798

Themes

Genre: American Gothic Novel (fiction)

Religion: Puritanism vs. Enlightenment

The “immortality” of fiction

Important Quotations

I feel little reluctance in complying with your request. You know not fully the cause of my sorrows. You are a stranger to the depth of my distresses. Hence your efforts at consolation must necessarily fail. Yet the tale that I am going to tell is not intended as a claim upon your sympathy. In the midst of my despair, I do not disdain to contribute what little I can for the benefit of mankind. I acknowledge your right to be informed of the events that have lately happened in my family. Make what use of the tale you shall think proper. If it be communicated to the world, it will inculcate the dusty of avoiding deceit. It will exemplify the force of early impressions, and show the immeasurable evils that flow from an erroneous or imperfect discipline. (p. 1 penguin edition)

Important Quotations

It was easy to perceive that most of his meditations were tinctured from this source. To this was to be ascribed a design in which his pen was, at this period, engaged of collecting and investigating the facts which relate to that mysterious personage, the Daemon of Socractes. (p. 55 Penguin edition)

Important Quotations

“My bother and he were endowed with the same attachment to the Latin writers; and Pleyel was not behind his friend in his knowledge of the history and metaphysics of religion. Their creeds, however, were in many respects opposite. Where one discovered only confirmations of his faith, the other could find nothing but reasons for doubt.” (p. 28, penguin edition)

Related Works from this Class

Judith Sargent Murray On the Equality of the Sexes

Although these works seem dramatically different, both texts give radical, important social/religious messages.

Benjamin Franklin The Speech of Polly Baker

Both texts are fiction and are used to make a political statement.

Crevecoeur Letters from an American Farmer

Both of these texts are in letter form and address important American issues.