Tara, again you filled in crucial gaps in my knowledge in your usual delightful way.
I have loved some of my reading experiences on Substack including reading serializations and being able to talk to the author. I think many people would pay a premium for that experience. Hard to scale though.
And I nominate your Washington Irving quote as the best Resume header ever:
"[I am] unfitted for any periodically recurring task, or any stipulated labor of body or mind”
Thank you, David. Yes, I love that line, too! It puts me in stitches. So does the one to his family about not being "agitated by new plans for subsistence"! It's easy to see why he has always been so admired for his style, if the man can cut us up with just one line of defiance.
Thank you, Pamela. I enjoyed learning from the industry folks who weighed in, too. I guess it was a good provocation for other writers to do good work. :-)
Glad you feel as I do about these stories. I like the way you see Irving. Grace of style did allow him to be baldly honest and funny at the same time. No wonder he was a hit and still is.
“They didn’t ask.” Wonderful article. Next time I’m in Boston (near my parents), I’ll have to visit this historic site!
With the latest educational research supporting the benefits of book reading (unsurprisingly, but decidedly) I think we will see a push for the continuance of this form, which, as you say, has persevered.
Thank you, Kate. I've spent so little time in Boston that I've never been to the Old Corner Bookstore myself. I'll look forward to your pictures if you post them (even though it is a restaurant now and much changed). I've been grateful to see that research about books, too. We know it from personal experience, but we need the research to resist the dreadful pressure to move everything online. Thank you for dropping by! :-)
Absolutely. I won’t be back until Christmas as we are doing another international move this summer 🤯 But I shall post and tag you when I get there! Always happy to take pilgrimages like this. Im from just next to Concord (LExington) and go to the Alcott, Thoreau, Emerson spots every time.
What a fascinating history. I always enjoy learning new things from you, Tara. A surprise detail from Ron Chernow’s biography of U.S. Grant was that Mark Twain came up with a highly successful scheme to publish Grant’s memoir as a subscription, almost like an encyclopedia. Salesman found out across the country door-to-door, selling the subscriptions and everybody got rich.
Yes, that’s right! Twain was co-owner for a time of the subscription publisher of his own books. That’s part of the reason for his exceptional popularity. Imagine someone going door to door to sell books today! Maybe we need to bring that back.
Incidentally, that successful subscription publisher was also the one who saw potential in Marietta Holley, my subject two weeks ago. He published all the books of Josiah Allen’s Wife by subscription.
Thank you for this comment. Now I’ll be picturing the old subscription canvassers as the next disrupters in publishing!
hahahaaa!! I never answer my door to a stranger. Different times. . . .Remember QVC and Home Shopping Network? We recently watched the movie, "Joy," which isn't great but is an interesting history of that era.
"The Sketch Book" is indeed a delight! It is interesting to consider whether Irving invented the genre of short fiction, though he was no doubt an innovator in popularizing it. Would you agree that Franklin was doing something like that with some of his parodic sketches? "The Way to Wealth" is more sermon than story, but it does have a setting, a main character, and a miniature plot arc. "The Speech of Polly Baker" is very much a story, in my mind.
And I can't help noting that in addition to his German sources, Irving also drew on indigenous stories, which might be considered the oldest models of American fiction. "Rip Van Winkle" includes a lengthy footnote on the Manitou who inhabits the Catskills.
I was thinking about these things while attending a Luke Combs concert recently. Many of us know Combs for his cover of Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car." But he has twice won the CMA Entertainer of the Year Award. He's a chubby, red-bearded guy who worked as a bouncer while attending Appalachian State. He dropped out to move to Nashville with no guarantee of success -- a fool's errand for many who make that leap. He has a song "Doin' This" about a question he got during Covid about what he'd do if he couldn't perform any longer. His answer was basically the same thing, even if it meant just scraping by: "I’d still be doin’ this if I wasn’t doin’ this." I think this is one of the secrets for people like Irving and Fields, too. Their success was more a fortunate byproduct of their inner clarity about an abiding purpose.
There are plenty of Irvings and Fieldses and singers like Combs who we've never heard of and never will. Maybe we can still imagine them happy?
(I think my intended reply wasn't properly lined up as a reply. See the comment stream for my note that follows yours and rather obviously responds to it.) 🙄
Oh, I’m glad you brought up Franklin! I had him in mind when I alluded oh so briefly to some predecessors who wrote short anecdotes or episodes with moral purpose. Other predecessors offered truncated novels (Brockden Brown, Somnambulism-A Fragment). To my knowledge, Irving broke the ice in English on the self-contained story with our familiar expectation of character-plot-and singular effect, with effect emphasizing the art over moral or practical purpose. Definitely Brown and Franklin also experimented with short forms.
The case for Irving is strengthened by the fact that both Poe and Harte admired and openly imitated him. It’s not clear whether Hawthorne did, too.
Harte’s 3 major influences on his short story form were Thackeray (satires), Irving, and Hawthorne.
I need to read that Manitou footnote to see what Irving would have heard before going abroad. Which edition has that note?
Luke Combs and Irving were both fortunate to break into the systems of their times. I find I’m thinking most about Fields. I feel we need a disruptor of systems more than individual success stories. I’m mulling this over.
I seem to know any number of young people who embrace the sentiment expressed by Irving, “I now wish to be left for a little while entirely to the bent of my own inclination, and not agitated by new plans for subsistence,” but who have no writing skills whatsoever, nor any other profitable skills that I can discern, and no plans or inclination to acquire such skills.
Tara, again you filled in crucial gaps in my knowledge in your usual delightful way.
I have loved some of my reading experiences on Substack including reading serializations and being able to talk to the author. I think many people would pay a premium for that experience. Hard to scale though.
And I nominate your Washington Irving quote as the best Resume header ever:
"[I am] unfitted for any periodically recurring task, or any stipulated labor of body or mind”
Thank you, David. Yes, I love that line, too! It puts me in stitches. So does the one to his family about not being "agitated by new plans for subsistence"! It's easy to see why he has always been so admired for his style, if the man can cut us up with just one line of defiance.
People do buy books all the time. I saw that provocative title and rolled my eyes. Well said response Tara!
Thank you, Pamela. I enjoyed learning from the industry folks who weighed in, too. I guess it was a good provocation for other writers to do good work. :-)
Absolutely true. I used to jump on good responses to provocative posts!
What a wonderful essay. I learned a ton. Thank you Tara 🙏
Thank you, Dee. I love getting into these biographies. :-)
Thank you for this Tara. I knew some of the names, but few of the stories. It’s always heartening to learn how others created their own path.
I admire Irving’s style. Might be worth remembering to be just a little more honest, with a touch of flair.
Glad you feel as I do about these stories. I like the way you see Irving. Grace of style did allow him to be baldly honest and funny at the same time. No wonder he was a hit and still is.
Informative and well done. Thanks!
Thank you, Bob!
“They didn’t ask.” Wonderful article. Next time I’m in Boston (near my parents), I’ll have to visit this historic site!
With the latest educational research supporting the benefits of book reading (unsurprisingly, but decidedly) I think we will see a push for the continuance of this form, which, as you say, has persevered.
Thank you, Tara! Wonderful read.
Thank you, Kate. I've spent so little time in Boston that I've never been to the Old Corner Bookstore myself. I'll look forward to your pictures if you post them (even though it is a restaurant now and much changed). I've been grateful to see that research about books, too. We know it from personal experience, but we need the research to resist the dreadful pressure to move everything online. Thank you for dropping by! :-)
Absolutely. I won’t be back until Christmas as we are doing another international move this summer 🤯 But I shall post and tag you when I get there! Always happy to take pilgrimages like this. Im from just next to Concord (LExington) and go to the Alcott, Thoreau, Emerson spots every time.
Always happy when I can pop in here :)
What a fascinating history. I always enjoy learning new things from you, Tara. A surprise detail from Ron Chernow’s biography of U.S. Grant was that Mark Twain came up with a highly successful scheme to publish Grant’s memoir as a subscription, almost like an encyclopedia. Salesman found out across the country door-to-door, selling the subscriptions and everybody got rich.
Yes, that’s right! Twain was co-owner for a time of the subscription publisher of his own books. That’s part of the reason for his exceptional popularity. Imagine someone going door to door to sell books today! Maybe we need to bring that back.
Incidentally, that successful subscription publisher was also the one who saw potential in Marietta Holley, my subject two weeks ago. He published all the books of Josiah Allen’s Wife by subscription.
Thank you for this comment. Now I’ll be picturing the old subscription canvassers as the next disrupters in publishing!
hahahaaa!! I never answer my door to a stranger. Different times. . . .Remember QVC and Home Shopping Network? We recently watched the movie, "Joy," which isn't great but is an interesting history of that era.
A book selling channel! That’s what we need! 🤣🥰
BSN Book Shopping Network
"The Sketch Book" is indeed a delight! It is interesting to consider whether Irving invented the genre of short fiction, though he was no doubt an innovator in popularizing it. Would you agree that Franklin was doing something like that with some of his parodic sketches? "The Way to Wealth" is more sermon than story, but it does have a setting, a main character, and a miniature plot arc. "The Speech of Polly Baker" is very much a story, in my mind.
And I can't help noting that in addition to his German sources, Irving also drew on indigenous stories, which might be considered the oldest models of American fiction. "Rip Van Winkle" includes a lengthy footnote on the Manitou who inhabits the Catskills.
I was thinking about these things while attending a Luke Combs concert recently. Many of us know Combs for his cover of Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car." But he has twice won the CMA Entertainer of the Year Award. He's a chubby, red-bearded guy who worked as a bouncer while attending Appalachian State. He dropped out to move to Nashville with no guarantee of success -- a fool's errand for many who make that leap. He has a song "Doin' This" about a question he got during Covid about what he'd do if he couldn't perform any longer. His answer was basically the same thing, even if it meant just scraping by: "I’d still be doin’ this if I wasn’t doin’ this." I think this is one of the secrets for people like Irving and Fields, too. Their success was more a fortunate byproduct of their inner clarity about an abiding purpose.
There are plenty of Irvings and Fieldses and singers like Combs who we've never heard of and never will. Maybe we can still imagine them happy?
(I think my intended reply wasn't properly lined up as a reply. See the comment stream for my note that follows yours and rather obviously responds to it.) 🙄
Oh, I’m glad you brought up Franklin! I had him in mind when I alluded oh so briefly to some predecessors who wrote short anecdotes or episodes with moral purpose. Other predecessors offered truncated novels (Brockden Brown, Somnambulism-A Fragment). To my knowledge, Irving broke the ice in English on the self-contained story with our familiar expectation of character-plot-and singular effect, with effect emphasizing the art over moral or practical purpose. Definitely Brown and Franklin also experimented with short forms.
The case for Irving is strengthened by the fact that both Poe and Harte admired and openly imitated him. It’s not clear whether Hawthorne did, too.
Harte’s 3 major influences on his short story form were Thackeray (satires), Irving, and Hawthorne.
I need to read that Manitou footnote to see what Irving would have heard before going abroad. Which edition has that note?
Luke Combs and Irving were both fortunate to break into the systems of their times. I find I’m thinking most about Fields. I feel we need a disruptor of systems more than individual success stories. I’m mulling this over.
Thank you for a toothsome comment! :-)
Long live the printed book!
This was a wonderful read. Thank you, Tara.
I seem to know any number of young people who embrace the sentiment expressed by Irving, “I now wish to be left for a little while entirely to the bent of my own inclination, and not agitated by new plans for subsistence,” but who have no writing skills whatsoever, nor any other profitable skills that I can discern, and no plans or inclination to acquire such skills.
I am related to a couple of these young people.
I do love that line! 😂 That must be what we mean when we talk about the timelessness of literature. 🙄 😬
My time at Stratton Oakmont (The Wolf Of Wall Street) https://open.substack.com/pub/michael880/p/another-chapter-from-can-i-have-your?r=3b6pw1&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Excellent use of history to address a modern issue! References for further reading at the end was a nice touch.
Thank you for reading, Bill! Glad you enjoyed it.