Annotated Bibliography

Hall D.E. (1996) Introduction Female Trouble: Nineteenth-Century Feminism and a Literature of Threat. In: Fixing Patriarchy. Palgrave Macmillan, London

            This source allows me to take a close look at the struggles that men—particularly those who either privately or publicly identified as queer—endured when it came to living and writing in a society that, in many regards, continued to live in denial. Rosa, with its queer undertones, is a novel that demands an exploration of those largely hidden histories. Thus, as I consider the keyword “metanarrative” as it relates to this text, I will pay special attention to the way that the author celebrated and questioned his or her own identity.

Brekus, Catherine A. “Writing Religious Experience: Women’s Authorship in Early America.” The Journal of Religion, vol. 92, no. 4, 2012, pp. 482–497. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/666834

This piece captures the challenges and triumphs of early female writers in America. It is of interest to me, for the author of Rosa chose anonymity but could very well have been a man. The author offers valuable insight on the differences between male and female writing at the time—there were certain established stereotypes as well as subtle clues—so I will be able to then reflect on the style and voice throughout Rosa. Feminine? Masculine? A mixture that could indicate queer?

Gross, Robert A., and Mary Kelley, editors. “INTRODUCTION: An Extensive Republic.” A History of the Book in America: Volume 2: An Extensive Republic: Print, Culture, and Society in the New Nation, 1790-1840, University of North Carolina Press, 2010, pp. 1–50. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9780807895689_gross.5.

This source offers a thorough look at the ways in which the explosion of print culture affected this country during the first half of the nineteenth century. It is particularly useful in an exploration of Rosa, since the anonymous author was clearly well-read, was likely Baltimore-based, and was evidently conscious of the national movement towards literacy. Influences were sprouting up all around, so the art of writing a novel necessarily involved a reckoning with the literary landscape; this author chose to jumble together everything, forcing readers to question what an American novel truly is.