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The Isolato Of The American Novel, Martha Ann Rayfield

Honors Theses

There were, in pre-Revolutionary America, no native novels. Even the popular novels of Europe had little demand in the Colonies. Pamela by Richardson was printed three times i n1744 when Benjamin Franklin published it simultaneously with two other equally adventurous printers. It was not until forty years later that another of Richardson's novels appeared--in 1786, the same year Tom Jones was printed in abridge form. Robinson Crusoe had to wait fifty years for American publication. The printing of any European novel was more for competition between printers--and that was practically non-existent.

True, the lag in taste and culture of the …