William Hill Brown
William Hill Brown (born November 1765 in Boston , died September 2, 1793 in Murfreesboro , North Carolina ) was an American writer. Today in literary studies he is regarded as the author of the first American novel : The Power of Sympathy, or the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth (1789).
The novel, a romance in the tradition of English sentimentalism in the footsteps of Samuel Richardson , was published anonymously and long mistakenly attributed to Sarah Wentworth Morgan . The plot of the novel is based on a true story, the incestuous relationship between siblings Sarah and Perez Morgan, which sparked a scandal during Hill's lifetime; Hill's protagonist, like Sarah Morgan, commits suicide at the end of the novel.
Brown also wrote the posthumously published novel Ira and Isabella; or, The Natural Children (1807), which ends a similar plot with a happy ending , as well as some dramas, including the tragedy West Point Preserved (1797) about the British adventurer and spy John André and some poems.
literature
- The Power of Sympathy . 1789; Edited by William S. Kable. Ohio State UP: Columbus 1970. Also available in paperback: The Power of Sympathy and the Coquette . Penguin Classics, London 1996. ISBN 0140434682
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Brown, William Hill |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American writer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 1765 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Boston |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 2, 1793 |
| Place of death | Murfreesboro , North Carolina |