Reader-Centered Periodicals and the Literary Commons

Abstract

The critical preoccupation with Charles Brockden Brown's novels—at the expense of his editorial work and periodical essays—has obscured larger questions about editing and collective authorship in Early American Studies. Taken as a whole, Brown's newly published corpus in the Collected Writings series exposes the fault lines of the traditional categories that have organized literary studies for more than a century with respect to genre and authorship. His editorial work and periodical writings challenge the critical emphasis on individual authorship.