| The periodical was one of the most prominent print forms in the American early national period
(1776-1820). Even though some of the era’s most famous works were initially published in
periodicals, their original formats are rarely considered. This project addresses the problem by
tracing four early American texts to their periodical origins to demonstrate how their settings
inherently shaped them. In each case, the works were originally published in periodicals and later
reproduced in different formats. The first chapter shows how Judith Sargent Murray’s narrative,
Story of Margaretta, never existed outside its embedding within “The Gleaner” column before
1995, when it was re-packaged as a novella. Placing the work back in its original column context
exemplifies narrative structures that inextricably link the column and narrative. The second
chapter reframes “Edgar Huntly, within its publication in the Monthly Magazine and American
Review, and exemplifies how paratexts shape a reader’s engagement with the fragment. Chapter
three traces Isaac Mitchell’s Alonzo and Melissa to its original serial format and reveals how the
sprawling narrative was a product of its seriality. In chapter four, Washington and William Irving
and James Paulding’s Salmagundi is examined as a multivocal satirical metacommentary rather
than a homogenous text. In each of these four cases, the periodical format shapes the structure
and order of the text, and tracing the texts back to their origins reveals how deeply their
publication realities shaped them. The final chapter of the study takes up the difficulties with
teaching periodicals and provides means by which they can be included in course syllabi.
Key Words: embedded narrative, paratexts, seriality, periodical studies, teaching periodicals |