[PDF] The Great Sea Serpent Upon The Coast Of New England In 1817 eBook

Author : Elizabeth Iris Burns
Publisher :
Page : 302 pages
File Size : 32,82 MB
Release : 2014
Category :
ISBN :

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ABSTRACTMonster on the Margin: The Sea Serpent Phenomenon in New England, 1817-1849, by Elizabeth Iris Burns, is a cultural history of the Sea Serpent seen by thousands of people on the New England coast, treating first, the creature's impact in the writing of New England regional identity, a process evident in reportage, science, essays, poetry and fiction; second, scientific inquiry in relation to a two-sided nationalistic discourse of natural history; and third, the New England project of historicizing the Sea Serpent, when newspaper editors and writers characterized the creature in the context of their troubled recent past and ambivalent place in presidents Jefferson and Madison's expanding union. It argues that the Sea Serpent contained anxieties and aspirations of New England in these years, and so was both a hot and cold medium according to the definitions of Marshall McLuhan. Finally, the work explores the popular cultural dimensions of the Sea Serpent, relating it to a change in attitude toward the seashore from repulsion to fascination and discusses how the Sea Serpent anticipated the showmanship of P. T. Barnum. The hot media of Sea Serpent reports, written to list facts, cooled down over several decades to admit increasing elaboration, such that the phenomenon in the antebellum allowed the folkloric and psychological refraction seen in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Egotism, or the Bosom Serpent," 1841, and the fantastic mixed-form novel, Eugene Batchelder's Romance of the Sea Serpent, or, The Icthyosaurus, 1849. In the Early Republic, the Sea Serpent, by his cultural work and in spite of his mythic associations, became real.

Author : Wayne Soini
Publisher : Arcadia Publishing
Page : 159 pages
File Size : 49,77 MB
Release : 2010-10-15
Category : History
ISBN : 1614232334

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In 1817, as Gloucester, Massachusetts, was recovering from the War of 1812, something beneath the water was about to cause a stir in this New England coastal community. It was a misty August day when two women first sighted Gloucester's sea serpent, touching off a riptide of excitement among residents that reached a climax when Matt Gaffney fired a direct shot at the creature. Local historian Wayne Soini explores the depths of Gloucester harbor to reveal a treasure-trove of details behind this legendary mystery. Follow as he tracks Justice of the Peace Lonson Nash's careful investigation, the world's first scientific study of this marine animal, and judges the credibility of numerous reported sightings.

Author : Philip F. Gura
Publisher : UNC Press Books
Page : 211 pages
File Size : 10,6 MB
Release : 2015-03-02
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 1469619997

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The Pequot Indian intellectual, author, and itinerant preacher William Apess (1798–1839) was one the most important voices of the nineteenth century. Here, Philip F. Gura offers the first book-length chronicle of Apess's fascinating and consequential life. After an impoverished childhood marked by abuse, Apess soldiered with American troops during the War of 1812, converted to Methodism, and rose to fame as a lecturer who lifted a powerful voice of protest against the plight of Native Americans in New England and beyond. His 1829 autobiography, A Son of the Forest, stands as the first published by a Native American writer. Placing Apess's activism on behalf of Native American people in the context of the era's rising tide of abolitionism, Gura argues that this founding figure of Native intellectual history deserves greater recognition in the pantheon of antebellum reformers. Following Apess from his early life through the development of his political radicalism to his tragic early death and enduring legacy, this much-needed biography showcases the accomplishments of an extraordinary Native American.

Author : J. P. O'Neill
Publisher : Cosimo, Inc.
Page : 257 pages
File Size : 30,63 MB
Release : 2003-11-01
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 1616406321

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Is it a strange mammal related to the seals, a descendant of a prehistoric reptile, or a new, unidentified animal? Whatever it is, or was, the witnesses call it a sea serpent. Remarkably similar descriptions of a creature with a long body, undulating motion, and horse-sized, snake-like head have left a trail of clues and controversy going back three centuries. In "The Great New England Sea Serpent," J.P. O'Neill draws on the historical record as well as previously unpublished first-hand accounts to chronicle more than 230 sightings of the mysterious marine creatures inhabiting the Gulf of Maine.