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 Title page inscribed by the author to illustrator "Daniel Maclise From his friend Charles Dickens, Eighteenth October 1842", one day prior to its official publication | |
| Author | Charles Dickens |
|---|---|
| Original title | American Notes for General Circulation |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Chapman & Hall |
Publication date | 19 October 1842 |
| Publication place | England |
| Media type | Print hardback, and paperback) |
| Preceded by | Barnaby Rudge |
| Followed by | Martin Chuzzlewit |
American Notes for General Circulation is atravelogue byCharles Dickens detailing his trip to North America from January to June 1842. While there he acted as a critical observer of North American society, almost as if returning a status report on their progress. This can be compared to the style of hisPictures from Italy written four years later, where he wrote far more like a tourist. His American journey was also an inspiration for his novelMartin Chuzzlewit. Having arrived inBoston, he visitedLowell, New York, andPhiladelphia, and travelled as far south asRichmond, as far west asSt. Louis and as far north asQuebec. The American city he liked best wasBoston – "the air was so clear, the houses were so bright and gay. [...] The city is a beautiful one, and cannot fail, I should imagine, to impress all strangers very favourably." Further, it was close to the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind where Dickens encounteredLaura Bridgman, who impressed him greatly.
On 3 January 1842, one month shy of his 30th birthday, Dickens sailed with his wife,Catherine, and her maid, Anne Brown, fromLiverpool on board the steamshipRMSBritannia bound for America.Arriving inBoston on 22 January 1842, the author was at once mobbed. Dickens at first revelled in the attention, but soon the endless demands on his time began to wear on his enthusiasm. He complained in a letter to his friendJohn Forster:
I can do nothing that I want to do, go nowhere where I want to go, and see nothing that I want to see. If I turn into the street, I am followed by a multitude.
He travelled mainly on theEast Coast and theGreat Lakes area of both the United States and Canada, primarily bysteamboat, but also by rail and coach. During his extensive itinerary, he made a particular point of visiting prisons andmental institutions and even took a quick glimpse at theprairie. Among his early visits to American institutions, Dickens visitedPerkins School for the Blind near Boston, where he metLaura Bridgman, who is considered the firstdeaf-blind person to receive a significant education in English. His account of this meeting inAmerican Notes would inspireHelen Keller's parents to seek an education for their daughter.He was particularly critical of the American press and the sanitary conditions of American cities. He also wrote merciless parodies of the manners of the locals, including, but not limited to, their rural conversations and practice of spitting tobacco in public (Ch. 8 – Washington):
As Washington may be called the headquarters of tobacco-tinctured saliva, the time is come when I must confess, without any disguise, that the prevalence of those two odious practices of chewing and expectorating began about this time to be anything but agreeable, and soon became most offensive and sickening.
In Washington, D.C., he called upon PresidentJohn Tyler in theWhite House, writing that:
... he looked somewhat worn and anxious, and well he might; being at war with everybody – but the expression of his face was mild and pleasant, and his manner was remarkably unaffected, gentlemanly, and agreeable. I thought that in his whole carriage and demeanour, he became his station singularly well.
Although generally impressed by what he found, he could not forgive the continued existence ofslavery in the United States, which he described as "that most hideous blot and foul disgrace ..."[1] The final chapters of the book are devoted to a criticism of the practice. He was also unhappy aboutcopyright issues. Dickens, by this time, had become an international celebrity, but owing to the lack of an international copyright law,bootleg copies of his works were freely available in North America and he could not abide losing money. Dickens called for international copyright law in many of his speeches in America, and his persistence in discussing the subject led some critics to accuse him of having travelled to America primarily to agitate for that cause.[2]
Dickens's letters home to his friends, including Forster and illustratorDaniel Maclise, helped to form the basis of the book.
Throughout the narrative, he notes he notes the good and bad of American society at the time, sometimes jocularly. Then, in a conclusion, he gives a considered analysis of what he views as major flaws in US society.
He critiques slavery. Apart from its corruption of both whites and blacks in slave states, he writes, the free states are complicit in the system as well in theirignorance. He is also horrified by the physical violence vented on both male and female slaves.
Next, he places violence, writing that the American ideal of liberty seems to include the freedom to violence any other American.
Third, he cites what he calls universal distrust, the extreme individualism that leads people to suspect others and to seek advantage over them. With a few exceptions, the scandal-seeking press contributes by undermining private life and destroying confidence in public life, he writes. Allied to this is the overriding commercialism, with the urge to pull off a smart deal and the idolisation of successful businessmen. In this capitalist country, he finds most people far too serious andpuritanical, lacking humour and a wider perspective.
Additionally, he in many places he finds standards of personal cleanliness and public health still very primitive and is particularly disgusted by the almost universal habit of spitting.
According to Dickens's biographerMichael Slater, the titleAmerican Notes for General Circulation may have been a joke at the expense of American currency. The end of theSecond Bank of the United States and the ensuingPanic of 1837 led to widespread bank failures and rendered much paper currency worthless.[3]
The book formed the basis forDickens in America (2005), an authored documentary series byMiriam Margolyes in which she followed Dickens's journey through the United States, visiting many of the places mentioned by the author in his book.
Online editions
American Notes public domain audiobook atLibriVox| International | |
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