The story of a young woman who is seduced and destroyed by it—that was the material that captivated American readers in droves in the late 18th century. Susanna Rowson published her novel ‘Charlotte Temple’ in the United States in 1794, after the work had already appeared in London three years earlier. As the F.A.Z. reports in its series ‘America, as It Stands in Books,’ the book became America’s first bestseller and went through hundreds of editions.
A Novel with a Raised Finger
The sentimental seduction novel was a popular genre at the end of the 18th century for conveying moral messages. The plot follows a familiar pattern: a young woman gets involved with a man before marriage, who later abandons her. In the end, she dies impoverished and despised. The message is clear: pleasure does not pay. This pattern struck a chord with the American readership.
Rowson, who worked as an actress and author, shuttling between England and North America, drew on a French model: Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s ‘Julie, or the Heloise’ from 1761. In it, a tutor falls in love with his aristocratic pupil, who has a child, loses it, and eventually dies. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe also contributed to the genre in 1774 with ‘The Sorrows of Young Werther,’ though it transcended class barriers.
Tears and Morality
Already in the preface to ‘Charlotte Temple,’ Rowson reveals her intention: she writes for young, unprotected women who could easily fall victim to the opposite sex and their own desires. ‘Oh, my dear girls, for only you do I write, do not listen to the voice of love unless it is sanctioned by your parents,’ it says there. Charlotte herself cannot hear this warning: she has a child, is betrayed, the seducer withdraws, and she dies ill. The officer kills a co-conspirator and falls into depression. The teacher who was involved in the seduction also dies miserably. The novel’s message is unmistakable: nothing good comes from lust.
Source: www.faz.net
