WRBG January Virtual Event: The Intimacy of Paper in Early and Nineteenth-Century American Literature

Happy New Year WRBG!

Hello all,

We hope you’ve had a safe and happy holiday season, and we welcome you back for a new year of programming with the Washington Rare Book Group.

As mentioned in our holiday letter, the January event is going to continue our newest tradition, the WRBG book discussion. This year, we will look at The Intimacy of Paper in Early and Nineteenth-Century American Literature by Jonathan Senchyne.

Publisher’s Description: The true scale of paper production in America from 1690 through the end of the nineteenth century was staggering, with a range of parties participating in different ways, from farmers growing flax to textile workers weaving cloth and from housewives saving rags to peddlers collecting them. Making a bold case for the importance of printing and paper technology in the study of early American literature, Jonathan Senchyne presents archival evidence of the effects of this very visible process on American writers, such as Anne Bradstreet, Herman Melville, Lydia Sigourney, William Wells Brown, and other lesser-known figures. The Intimacy of Paper in Early and Nineteenth-Century American Literature reveals that book history and literary studies are mutually constitutive and proposes a new literary periodization based on materiality and paper production. In unpacking this history and connecting it to cultural and literary representations, Senchyne also explores how the textuality of paper has been used to make social and political claims about gender, labor, and race.

Bring your thoughts, comments, and questions!

The virtual book discussion will be held on Wednesday, January 31st at noon via Zoom.

Even though there is no cost for this event, please RSVP by January 30th so we can send you an email with login instructions prior to the event. The Zoom link will be emailed to registered participants in advance of the program.

We hope you will join us!

Amanda Zimmerman, WRBG President

Questions? Contact us!
washingtonrarebookgroup@gmail.com

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