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Wieland, or the Transformation

Wieland, or the Transformation Paperback - 1997

by Brown, Charles Brockden

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  • Paperback

Theodore Wieland hears mysterious voices. Are these the result of delusions, ventriloquism, or divine forces? In this Gothic thriller, novelist Charles Brockden Brown (1771-1810) portrays a man beset by religious guilt which erupts into mania, making him an extreme danger to others. Brown's fascination with the scientifically bizarre and the macabre was a great influence on 19th century authors Hawthorne and Poe.

Description

Prometheus Books, 1997. Paperback. Acceptable. Readable copy. Pages may have considerable notes/highlighting. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
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Details

  • Title Wieland, or the Transformation
  • Author Brown, Charles Brockden
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition First Printing T
  • Condition Used - Acceptable
  • Pages 234
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Prometheus Books, Amherst, New York, U.S.A.
  • Date 1997
  • Bookseller's Inventory # G1573921750I5N00
  • ISBN 9781573921756 / 1573921750
  • Weight 0.6 lbs (0.27 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.43 x 5.54 x 0.57 in (21.41 x 14.07 x 1.45 cm)
  • Library of Congress subjects Brothers and sisters, Horror fiction
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 97026695
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

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From the rear cover

Theodore Wieland hears mysterious voices. Are these the result of delusions, ventriloquism, or divine forces? In this Gothic thriller, novelist Charles Brockden Brown (1771-1810) portrays a man beset by religious guilt which erupts into mania, transforming him into the murderer of his wife and children. Once the mystery of the controlling voices is revealed, Theodore's sister, Clara, undergoes her own transformation, as she moves from bitterness and despair over her brother's destruction to resignation and, finally, peace. Brown's fascination with the scientifically bizarre and the macabre influenced Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne. But he sought the solutions to his mysteries in nature and in the depths of the human mind, rather than in the realm of the supernatural.

About the author

CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN was born in Philadelphia, on January 17, 1771, into an old Quaker family. The youngest of four sons, Brown was sickly as a child and would remain in fragile health throughout his life. Yet despite his physical weakness, he showed a great aptitude for study. He acquired a broad classical education at the Friends' Grammar School in Philadelphia, and at the age of sixteen was apprenticed to Alexander Wilcox to study law. But Brown showed a keener interest in writing; while still in his teens he was contributing essays to the Columbian Magazine.

In 1793 Brown decided to abandon the law for literature. That year he went to New York and became a member of the Friendly Society, where he was imbued with English philosopher and freethinker William Godwin's ideas of the corruption of society and of the perfectibility of humankind.

Once again in Philadelphia, Brown published his first book, Alcuin: A Dialogue on the Rights of Women (1798), a plea for women's suffrage far in advance of its time. The same year he published his first novel, Wieland, or The Transformation, a first-person Gothic-style tale concerned with religious fanaticism, ventriloquism, and spontaneous combustion. Soon afterward, he returned to New York to assume editorship of the Monthly Magazine and American Review (1798- 1800). In addition to his work on the magazine, Brown published five more novels in rapid succession: Ormond (1799), Edgar Huntly (1799), Arthur Mervyn (1799-1800), Jane Talbot (1801), and Clara Howard (1801).

Brown returned once more to Philadelphia, where he lived for the rest of his life. He served as editor of the Literary Magazine and American Register (1803-1807) and of the American Register or General Repository (1807-1809). Brown wrote tirelessly, producing a series of political pamphlets and other articles for various magazines. In 1804 he married Elizabeth Linn of New York City. To support his new wife, Brown entered the family's mercantile business. Brown's incessant literary labors took a serious toll on his already poor health. In 1809 he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, of which he died on February 22 of the following year, in Philadelphia, at the age of thirty-nine.

Brown's novels, reflecting his Quaker background and also the ideas of William Godwin and the French Encyclopedists, dealt with solutions to moral or philosophical problems. But they were more notable for their fascination with complex states of consciousness and the scientifically bizarre. In this Brown influenced the psychological novels of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, and Henry James.

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