Cultural Narratives

<p>This collection of original essays examines debates on how written printed visual and performed works produced meaning in American culture before 1900. The contributors argue that America has been a multimedia culture since the eighteenth century. According to Sandra M. Gustafson the verbal arts before 1900 manifest a strikingly rich pattern of development and change. From the wide variety of indigenous traditions through the initial productions of settler communities to the elaborations of colonial postcolonial and national expressive forms the shifting dynamics of performed manuscript-based and printed verbal art capture critical elements of rapidly changing societies. </p><p>The contributors address performances of religion and government race and gender poetry theater and song. Their studies are based on texts--intended for reading silently or out loud--maps recovered speech and pictorial sources. As these essays demonstrate media even when they appear to be fixed reflected a dynamic American experience.</p><p>Contributors: Caroline F. Sloat Matthew P. Brown David S. Shields Martin Brückner Jeffrey H. Richards Phillip H. Round Hilary E. Wyss Angela Vietto Katherine Wilson Joan Newlon Radner Ingrid Satelmajer Joycelyn Moody Philip F. Gura Coleman Hutchison Oz Frankel Susan S. Williams Laura Burd Schiavo and Sandra M. Gustafson</p>