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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... Jenn IFe R sCHe LL 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 Crève- coeur g fi uratively surveys various regions of the e fl dgling United States and rhetorically manipulates geographic spatial categories in an attempt to den fi e what he sees as exceptional about the American project. What Crèvecoeur engages in is a kind of demarcation of American space simi- lar to that which David Harvey describes in the chapter of e Th Condition of Postmodernity entitled “Time and Space of the Enlightenment Project.” Harvey argues that, according to the theoretical practices of some Enlight- enment thinkers, “the conquest and control of space . . . r fi st 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 specic fi method of theorizing and control- ling American geography 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

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

Abstract

Jenn IFe R sCHe LL 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 Crève- coeur g fi uratively surveys various regions of the e fl dgling United States and rhetorically manipulates geographic spatial categories in an attempt to den fi e what he sees as exceptional about the American project. What Crèvecoeur engages in is a kind of demarcation of American space simi- lar to that which David Harvey describes in the chapter of e Th Condition of Postmodernity entitled “Time and Space of the Enlightenment Project.” Harvey argues that, according to the theoretical practices of some Enlight- enment thinkers, “the conquest and control of space . . . r fi st 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 specic fi method of theorizing and control- ling American geography

Journal

Early American LiteratureUniversity of North Carolina Press

Published: Nov 26, 2008

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