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America and the Americans - in 1833-4 is a polemical, satirical
account of Gooch's purported travels in America, focusing primarily
on New York City and its environs. Never previously published, this
work adds an original voice to the nineteenth-century debate over
the status of the United States as an emerging cultural power. A
large part of Widdicombe's achievement is his bringing to light
this unjustly neglected author - a storyteller, poet, and
perceptive observer who spent his most productive years on the
edges of power and public recognition in Georgian and early
Victorian England. Widdicombe frames this unique "travelogue" with
a short biography of Gooch, extensive textual and historical notes,
an essay on Anglo-American travel literature, and a coda: "On the
Perils of Oblivion". A key to the value of Gooch's account is its
unique arrangement by subject matter: Gooch examines the American
legal system, banks, labor; American policy toward Indians and
blacks; New York City government and its electoral system, among
other topics. The arrangement makes Gooch's satire far more
entertaining, substantial, and informative than most travelogues
written in the same period. It also allows Gooch to sustain his
polemic - an effort to re-orient the British attitude toward the
United States and stem the tide of expatriates to its shores.
Gooch's remarkable analysis of American life, studded with relevant
facts taken from daily headlines, is heightened by mystery: How
much, if any, did Gooch actually observe firsthand, and how much,
if any, did he shape with the powers of his narrative talent?
Widdicombe provides some clues; the reader will be challenged to
render the verdict.
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