Scan barcode
A review by withtheclassics
Edgar Huntly Or, Memoirs of a Sleep-Walker by Charles Brockden Brown
3.0
This story was a crazy ride. It is an American Gothic novel, and re-imagines European and English Gothic tropes for the late 18th century American landscape. Instead of bandits and crumbling castles, we get Indians and panthers.
On that note, be aware that the book's portrayal of Native Americans is very stereotypical/racist.
The blurbs for the book, both on the Penguin edition and here on Goodreads keep trying to make its theme some kind of "metaphor for the founding of a new nation," as the blurb on the book says. I disagree. What makes this interesting, and more of a 3.5 star rating, is the exploration of consciousness. The sleepwalking mentioned in the subtitle becomes an important plot point, and the book is very interested in the line between waking and dreaming, between sanity and madness, between primal instinct and rational action. If read with care, the seeming randomness of the plot starts to become more coherent, and yes, the main character fights a panther, but the novel also suggests some frightening things about the knife-thin line we all might balance between civilized behavior and madness.
On that note, be aware that the book's portrayal of Native Americans is very stereotypical/racist.
The blurbs for the book, both on the Penguin edition and here on Goodreads keep trying to make its theme some kind of "metaphor for the founding of a new nation," as the blurb on the book says. I disagree. What makes this interesting, and more of a 3.5 star rating, is the exploration of consciousness. The sleepwalking mentioned in the subtitle becomes an important plot point, and the book is very interested in the line between waking and dreaming, between sanity and madness, between primal instinct and rational action. If read with care, the seeming randomness of the plot starts to become more coherent, and yes, the main character fights a panther, but the novel also suggests some frightening things about the knife-thin line we all might balance between civilized behavior and madness.