The Unvarnished Truth - Personal Narratives in Nineteenth-Century America (Paperback, Revised)

The practice of selling one's tale of woe to make a buck has long been a part of American culture. "The Unvarnished Truth: Personal Narratives in Nineteenth-Century America" is a powerful cultural history of how ordinary Americans crafted and sold their stories of hardship and calamity during the nineteenth century. Ann Fabian examines the tales of beggars, convicts, ex-slaves, prisoners of the Confederacy, and others to explore cultural authority, truth-telling, and the nature of print media as the country was shifting to a market economy. This well-crafted book describes the fascinating controversies surrounding these little-read tales and returns them to the social worlds where they were produced.
Drawing on an enormous number of personal narratives--accounts of mostly poor, suffering, and often uneducated Americans--"The Unvarnished Truth" analyzes a long-ignored tradition in popular literature. Historians have treated the spread of literacy and the growth of print culture as a chapter in the democratization of refinement, but these tales suggest that this was not always the case. Producing stories that purported to be the plain, unvarnished truth, poor men and women edged their way onto the cultural stage, using storytelling strategies far older than those relying on a Renaissance sense of refinement and polish. This book introduces a unique collection of tales to explore the nature of truth, authenticity, and representation.

General

Imprint:	University of California Press
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	May 2002
First published:	May 2002
Authors:	Ann Fabian
Dimensions:	229 x 152 x 18mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback - Trade
Pages:	268
Edition:	Revised
ISBN-13:	978-0-520-23201-3
Categories:	Books > Language & Literature > Literature: history & criticism > Literary studies > 19th century Books > Language & Literature > Literature: history & criticism > Novels, other prose & writers > General Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Interdisciplinary studies > Cultural studies > General Books > Humanities > History > World history > 1750 to 1900 Books > Humanities > History > American history > General Books > History > American history > General Books > History > World history > 1750 to 1900 Promotions
LSN:	0-520-23201-1
Barcode:	9780520232013

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