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"A friend in history," Henry David Thoreau once wrote, "looks like some premature soul." And in the history of friendship in early America, Caleb Crain sees the soul of the nation's literature. In a sensitive analysis that weaves together literary criticism and historical narrative, Crain describes the strong friendships between men that supported and inspired some of America's greatest writing--the Gothic novels of Charles Brockden Brown, the essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson, and the novels of Herman Melville. He traces the genealogy of these friendships through a series of stories. A dapper English spy inspires a Quaker boy to run away from home. Three Philadelphia gentlemen conduct a romance through diaries and letters in the 1780's. Flighty teenager Charles Brockden Brown metamorphoses into a horror novelist by treating his friends as his literary guinea pigs. Emerson exchanges glances with a Harvard classmate but sacrifices his crush on the altar of literature--a decision Margaret Fuller invites him to reconsider two decades later. Throughout this engaging book, Crain demonstrates the many ways in which the struggle to commit feelings to paper informed the shape and texture of American literature.

Amitié entre hommes dans la littérature --- Hommes dans la littérature --- Male friendship in literature --- Mannen in de literatuur --- Men in literature --- Sympathie dans la littérature --- Sympathie in de literatuur --- Sympathy in literature --- Vriendschap tussen mannen in de literatuur --- American literature --- Thematology --- anno 1800-1899 --- Male authors --- History and criticism --- 19th century --- 1783-1850 --- Male friendship --- United States --- History --- Brown, Charles Brockden --- Characters --- Men --- Emerson, Ralph Waldo --- Mifflin, John Fishbourne --- Gibson, James --- Brown, Charles Brockden, - 1771-1810 - Characters - Men. --- Emerson, Ralph Waldo, - 1803-1882. - Friendship. --- Men in literature. --- Male friendship in literature. --- Sympathy in literature. --- Friendship between men --- Friendship in men --- Mens' friendship --- Friendship --- English literature --- Agrarians (Group of writers) --- History and criticism. --- History. --- Brown, Charles Brockden, --- Emerson, Ralph Waldo, --- Brown, C. B. --- Brown, Brockden, --- C. B. B. --- B., C. B. --- Poplicola, --- Author of An address to the government of the United States, on the cession of Louisiana, --- Address to the government of the United States, on the cession of Louisiana, Author of, --- French counsellor of state, --- Men. --- Bromance (Male friendship) --- Men's friendship