Mary's Reflections on American Print Culture

The blog opens with an address to its subscribers who are named as Gentlemen. It seems that the articles and poetry in the periodical about women, then, are addressed to men, specifically gentlemen, probably of upper class, considering the title of the periodical is The Royal American magazine.

The very first article that appears is on called "On Pleasure" immediately followed by a quote from Alexander Pope: "Pleasure, if wrong, or rightly understood, our greatest evil or our greatest good." This opening article, along with the quote and the subtitle of the periodical indicate that the pursuit of man is pleasure, but it can be a good or bad pleasure. If women are included in a man's pleasure, he must be instructed whether he is withdrawing the correct form of pleasure from a woman. The primary article explains that while it is right for a man to pursue pleasure, a wise man will pursue a pleasure that leads to greater morality and intelligence rather than sensual gratification.

I find this interesting counsel interesting in light of the direction periodicals would take in the next century. Though Starr often associates higher literacy with the rise of available print culture, he also notes that this literacy was often accompanied by a ravenous appetite for sensation stories--scandalous news and fiction. This periodical precedes this stage and seems to hope for a more cultured pursuit of pleasure.

The next article continues the theme of pleasure, reiterating that the ultimate end of man is his happiness. This article (actually in the form of a letter) expands upon the first by exhorting men to find their happiness in "God, who ordereth everything for universal good." In the following pages, one finds that happiness is found in the idyllic country, in rest, in leisure to study the classics--all luxuries of the elite, even though from the beginning readers are told happiness comes apart from circumstances.

After a few letters to the editor, there comes a story, based on the introduction, intended as a moral story. Yet, I wondered, if this periodical is for men, what would interest them in "The Wife of Ten Thousand: A Moral Tale?" ah, but then I saw. The husband (who ends up giving bad advice to his wife on how to manage her house) was a man of money. He was a man whose "prevailing foible was to want to life like a man of quality." It seems to be a recurring theme throughout this periodical to distinguish between a man of moral character and a man who loves money. The periodical continues to neglect that its audience is probably much wealthier than most Americans in order to have the leisure and the classical background to understand the allusions within the fiction. It makes me wonder if some of the assumptions that we make in looking back on the period--about the democracy and egalitarianism of America was artificially created by rhetoric like that found in this particular journal, for it seems that the men reading (and contributing) must feel that they are nobler and more moral than the men of luxury they decry.

I want to get to the original poem I found, but I want to mention that in line with this theme of a constructed American identity, valuing simple morality and intelligence for all over rich excess, there is a poem that precedes the wife poem called "A Lady Recovering from Small-Pox," which indicates that the woman was quite greedy and enamored by luxury when she was suddenly overwhelmed with the disease. Interesting moral there.

But here is the poem that instructs men, as sensible and moral, to choose a wife for their pleasure. In "The Choice or The Model of a Wife," the woman is to be "virtuous" and "beautiful." She is to have a good "form" as well as "mind." Her "virtue" (ahem metaphorically) shall arise from her "breasts." She is to have "endearing sweetness, devoid of pride." Even though he wants her to have a good mind, she should not be talkative: "without loquacious wisdom wise..." avoiding "tattling" and "slandering." After all this she should be able to see her own faults (though I'm not sure which she's allowed to have at all). However, she must be able to overlook others's faults (I'm assuming those of the man speaking in the poem.) In fact, she knows how to "appease" her provoked husband, if necessary as she is his "healing balm" who can sooth his passions.

I believe this journal is an interesting example of how the a nation can begin creating its identity through print. Literature, as Klay notes in his blog, is so important to the formation of a society's beliefs and actions. Though it is not a linear process, from print to action, what we read, what we accept, what we write, all contribute to our worldviews and even the myths we continue to propagate. Studying literature, even looking at a periodical with relatively obscure poetry, helps us see how instrumental fiction and non-fiction is in creating identity and ideas.