A version of the first novel
The first American novel was published in Boston on this date in 1789. The title of the novel was The Power of Sympathy: or, The Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth, and its author was William Hill Brown, although he published it anonymously. It’s an epistolary novel, told entirely through the letters that the characters write to one another; Brown modeled its form after novels like Pamela, by Samuel Richardson.
The Power of Sympathy tells the story of a young New Englander named Thomas Harrington. Harrington has fallen madly in love with a girl named Harriot — who is, unbeknownst to him, his illegitimate half sister. Harrington’s father must decide whether to reveal his own dark secret to save the couple from sure damnation. He dashes off a quick note to his minister: “He is now even upon the point of marrying — shall I proceed! — of marrying his Sister! I fly to prevent incest!” Mr. Harrington Senior intervenes on the eve of the wedding, and the engagement is called off. Poor Harriot dies of consumption, and Thomas — after many letters to his best friend, Worthy — eventually shoots himself.
Brown was inspired by a local scandal: a Boston woman named Fanny Apthorp had had an affair with her sister’s husband, a man named Perez Morton. She became pregnant and ultimately committed suicide. The Apthorps lived next door to Brown, so he had access to all the inside information. He changed the names, and relocated the story to Rhode Island, but the Mortons and Apthorps had political connections; with Brown’s agreement, they stopped publication of the book and requested that all unsold copies be burned. For many years, people believed that the novel’s real author was Sarah Morton, the betrayed wife, but eventually Brown’s niece came forward and confirmed that her uncle had written the novel.
Lest you should choose the racy tale as your next must-read, the Paris Review diplomatically warns: “The passing centuries have hidden its charms.”
-Garrison Keillor
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