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Figurative Surveying: National Space and the Nantucket Chapters of J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur’s Letters from an American Farmer

Figurative Surveying: National Space and the Nantucket Chapters of J. Hector St. John de... JennIFeR sCHeLL Wichita State University Figurative Surveying National Space and the Nantucket Chapters of J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur's Letters from an American Farmer In Letters from an American Farmer, J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur figuratively surveys various regions of the fledgling United States and rhetorically manipulates geographic spatial categories in an attempt to define what he sees as exceptional about the American project. What Crèvecoeur engages in is a kind of demarcation of American space similar to that which David Harvey describes in the chapter of The Condition of Postmodernity entitled "Time and Space of the Enlightenment Project." Harvey argues that, according to the theoretical practices of some Enlightenment thinkers, "the conquest and control of space . . . first requires that it be conceived of as something usable, malleable, and therefore capable of domination through human action" (254). Harvey's claim is useful for my purposes here because Letters represents just this, a particular way of what Harvey would call "conceiving" of and "dominating" American space. My argument is that Crèvecoeur's specific method of theorizing and controlling American geography begins by generating a figuratively descriptive spatial hierarchy of the United States' margins and centers. Then, http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Early American Literature University of North Carolina Press

Figurative Surveying: National Space and the Nantucket Chapters of J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur’s Letters from an American Farmer

Schell, Jennifer.
Early American Literature , Volume 43 (3) – Nov 26, 2008
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Publisher
University of North Carolina Press
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 The University of North Carolina Press
ISSN
1534-147X
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Abstract

JennIFeR sCHeLL Wichita State University Figurative Surveying National Space and the Nantucket Chapters of J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur's Letters from an American Farmer In Letters from an American Farmer, J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur figuratively surveys various regions of the fledgling United States and rhetorically manipulates geographic spatial categories in an attempt to define what he sees as exceptional about the American project. What Crèvecoeur engages in is a kind of demarcation of American space similar to that which David Harvey describes in the chapter of The Condition of Postmodernity entitled "Time and Space of the Enlightenment Project." Harvey argues that, according to the theoretical practices of some Enlightenment thinkers, "the conquest and control of space . . . first requires that it be conceived of as something usable, malleable, and therefore capable of domination through human action" (254). Harvey's claim is useful for my purposes here because Letters represents just this, a particular way of what Harvey would call "conceiving" of and "dominating" American space. My argument is that Crèvecoeur's specific method of theorizing and controlling American geography begins by generating a figuratively descriptive spatial hierarchy of the United States' margins and centers. Then,

Journal

Early American Literature – University of North Carolina Press

Published: Nov 26, 2008

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