Seasons of Misery

Catastrophe and Colonial Settlement in Early America

Nonfiction, History, Americas, United States, Colonial Period (1600-1775)
Cover of the book Seasons of Misery by Kathleen Donegan, University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Kathleen Donegan ISBN: 9780812209143
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc. Publication: October 9, 2013
Imprint: University of Pennsylvania Press Language: English
Author: Kathleen Donegan
ISBN: 9780812209143
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
Publication: October 9, 2013
Imprint: University of Pennsylvania Press
Language: English

The stories we tell of American beginnings typically emphasize colonial triumph in the face of adversity. But the early years of English settlement in America were characterized by catastrophe: starvation, disease, extreme violence, ruinous ignorance, and serial abandonment. Seasons of Misery offers a provocative reexamination of the British colonies' chaotic and profoundly unstable beginnings, placing crisis—both experiential and existential—at the center of the story. At the outposts of a fledgling empire and disconnected from the social order of their home society, English settlers were both physically and psychologically estranged from their European identities. They could not control, or often even survive, the world they had intended to possess. According to Kathleen Donegan, it was in this cauldron of uncertainty that colonial identity was formed.

Studying the English settlements at Roanoke, Jamestown, Plymouth, and Barbados, Donegan argues that catastrophe marked the threshold between an old European identity and a new colonial identity, a state of instability in which only fragments of Englishness could survive amid the upheavals of the New World. This constant state of crisis also produced the first distinctively colonial literature as settlers attempted to process events that they could neither fully absorb nor understand. Bringing a critical eye to settlers' first-person accounts, Donegan applies a unique combination of narrative history and literary analysis to trace how settlers used a language of catastrophe to describe unprecedented circumstances, witness unrecognizable selves, and report unaccountable events. Seasons of Misery addresses both the stories that colonists told about themselves and the stories that we have constructed in hindsight about them. In doing so, it offers a new account of the meaning of settlement history and the creation of colonial identity.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The stories we tell of American beginnings typically emphasize colonial triumph in the face of adversity. But the early years of English settlement in America were characterized by catastrophe: starvation, disease, extreme violence, ruinous ignorance, and serial abandonment. Seasons of Misery offers a provocative reexamination of the British colonies' chaotic and profoundly unstable beginnings, placing crisis—both experiential and existential—at the center of the story. At the outposts of a fledgling empire and disconnected from the social order of their home society, English settlers were both physically and psychologically estranged from their European identities. They could not control, or often even survive, the world they had intended to possess. According to Kathleen Donegan, it was in this cauldron of uncertainty that colonial identity was formed.

Studying the English settlements at Roanoke, Jamestown, Plymouth, and Barbados, Donegan argues that catastrophe marked the threshold between an old European identity and a new colonial identity, a state of instability in which only fragments of Englishness could survive amid the upheavals of the New World. This constant state of crisis also produced the first distinctively colonial literature as settlers attempted to process events that they could neither fully absorb nor understand. Bringing a critical eye to settlers' first-person accounts, Donegan applies a unique combination of narrative history and literary analysis to trace how settlers used a language of catastrophe to describe unprecedented circumstances, witness unrecognizable selves, and report unaccountable events. Seasons of Misery addresses both the stories that colonists told about themselves and the stories that we have constructed in hindsight about them. In doing so, it offers a new account of the meaning of settlement history and the creation of colonial identity.

More books from University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.

Cover of the book Radical Pacifism in Modern America by Kathleen Donegan
Cover of the book Marriage, Sex, and Civic Culture in Late Medieval London by Kathleen Donegan
Cover of the book Miami Transformed by Kathleen Donegan
Cover of the book Death of a Suburban Dream by Kathleen Donegan
Cover of the book The Arabic Role in Medieval Literary History by Kathleen Donegan
Cover of the book Billy Graham and the Rise of the Republican South by Kathleen Donegan
Cover of the book Republic of Taste by Kathleen Donegan
Cover of the book John Woolman's Path to the Peaceable Kingdom by Kathleen Donegan
Cover of the book Islamist Parties and Political Normalization in the Muslim World by Kathleen Donegan
Cover of the book Slavery in Medieval and Early Modern Iberia by Kathleen Donegan
Cover of the book Between Cultures by Kathleen Donegan
Cover of the book The Romance of Adultery by Kathleen Donegan
Cover of the book Revolutionary Backlash by Kathleen Donegan
Cover of the book The Sports Franchise Game by Kathleen Donegan
Cover of the book The Brandywine by Kathleen Donegan
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy