Caught in the crossfire: A critical English translation of the New York City prison letters of St. John de Crevecoeur
Item
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Title
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Caught in the crossfire: A critical English translation of the New York City prison letters of St. John de Crevecoeur
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:9d7a752d4377:10413
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identifier
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10530
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Creator
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Moore, Drew,
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Contributor
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Andre Aciman
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Date
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2010
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Comparative literature | American literature | American history | farmer | letters | New York City | prison | St. John de Crèvecoeur | translation
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Abstract
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The present study is a critical edition and translation into English of the New York City prison letters of St. John de Crevecoeur. The letters were first published in French in the 1784 and 1787 editions of Lettres d'un cultivateur americain. Until now, these five autobiographical stories of the author's 1779 incarceration by the British during the American Revolution have been unavailable to English readers. Consisting of a critical introduction, annotated translation, photographs, illustrations, and an appendix, this dissertation fuses the literary with the historical. St. John de Crevecoeur's suspenseful, impassioned account of the most harrowing experience in his life is amplified by historical research that fleshes out wartime events and the actual lives of his fellow sufferers in the notorious Provost Gaol.;The critical introduction identifies themes that course through the prison stories, and indeed much of St. John de Crevecoeur's work as a whole: the horrors and contingencies of civil war, along with the perils of neutrality and artificiality of allegiances. The introduction then examines the generic properties of the prison letters: they share qualities of the epistolary, sentimental, and captivity narrative. Finally, the stories are placed into historical context, followed by a discussion of the implications of this prison episode in the assessment of St. John de Crevecoeur's life and work.;The letters themselves begin with the "The Generous Daughter," a story of a man whose daughter's efforts to secure his release inspire wonder and admiration in all the inmates. "Anecdote of Sergeant B. A." anatomizes the movements, countenance and behavior of a man about to be executed. "The Ill-Fated Father" is the portrait of a defiant old man whose sons are wantonly murdered. "Circumstances" is principally the author's own story, recounting the torments he suffers, as well as the kindnesses bestowed on him, during his three-month confinement in the Provost. "Last Letter" recreates the suspenseful night on which the author discovers that he will finally be released from prison. Acts of benevolence that defy partisan expectations elicit his wonder as readily as acts of arbitrary vileness.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Comparative Literature
