New World, Known World: Shaping Knowledge in Early Anglo-American Writing

190 Pages·2005·2.22 MB·English

by  David Read

New World, Known World
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New World,
Known World
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Shaping Knowledge in
Early Anglo-American Writing
David Read
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI PRESS
COLUMBIA AND LONDON
Copyright © 2005 by
The Curators of the University of Missouri
University of Missouri Press, Columbia, Missouri 65201
Printed and bound in the United States of America
All rights reserved
5 4 3 2 1 09 08 07 06 05
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Read, David, 1956–
New world, known world : shaping knowledge in early
Anglo-American writing / David Read.
p. cm.
Summary: “Examines the works of four writers from the
early period of English colonization: John Smith’s Generall
Historie of Virginia, William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Planta-
tion, Thomas Morton’s New English Canaan, and Roger
Williams’s A Key into the Language of America (in conjunc-
tion with The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution)”—Provided
by publisher.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8262-1600-7
ISBN-10: 0-8262-1600-5
1. United States—History—Colonial period, ca. 1600–1775—
Sources. 2. United States—History—Colonial period, ca.
1600–1775—Historiography. 3. Great Britain—Colonies—
America—History—Sources. 4. Great Britain—Colonies—
America—Historiography. 5. Smith, John, 1580–1631. Gener-
all historie of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles.
6. Williams, Roger, 1604?–1683. Key into the language of
America. 7. Bradford, William, 1590–1657. History of Ply-
mouth Plantation. 8. Morton, Thomas, 1575–1646. New
English Canaan. 9. American literature—Colonial period,
ca. 1600–1775—History and criticism. I. Title.
E191.R43 2005
973.2—dc22
2005015403
This paper meets the requirements of the
American National Standard for Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, Z39.48, 1984.
Designer: Kristie Lee
Typesetter: Crane Composition, Inc.
Printer and binder: Thomson-Shore, Inc.
Typefaces: Dante and Chesterfield Antique
In memory of John Malcolm Wallace,
rara avis

Contents
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Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
The Incoherent Colonist: Troubled Knowledge in
John Smith’s Generall Historie of Virginia 17
Silent Partners: Historical Representation in
William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation 43
Importing the Metropolis: The Poetics of Urbanity in
Thomas Morton’s New English Canaan 71
American Consciences: Roger Williams’s Field of Inquiry 95
Conclusion: Chains of Knowledge 131
Appendix: Perry Miller on Roger Williams 137
Notes 141
Bibliography 163
Index 171

Acknowledgments
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F
irst I want to thank Tom Quirk for his help, and I mean help in the
broadest sense. He would likely deny that he has ever been of assis-
tance to anybody, but many will think otherwise. I also am grateful to Janel
Mueller and Janice Knight, who were generous enough to provide early
outlets for the work of a wholly self-taught and somewhat wet-behind-the-
ears early Americanist, and to Trish Roberts-Miller, Bill Kerwin, Mo Lee,
Frances Dickey, Pat Okker, and Noah Heringman for reading and com-
menting on different parts of the project. I thank the presses of the Uni-
versity of Chicago and the University of North Carolina for permitting me
to make use in Chapters 1 and 2 of work that initially appeared in article
form in, respectively, Modern Philologyand Early American Literature.Chap-
ter 4 is the product of a much-appreciated research leave funded by the
University of Missouri Research Board. My appreciation goes as well to
the anonymous readers at the University of Missouri Press for their astute
and constructive suggestions about improving the manuscript; I want them
to know that I have tried! That I treasure the constant support of my wife,
Sarah, and daughters, Anna and Molly, goes without saying, but I will say
it anyway.
This book is dedicated to the memory of one of my professors in grad-
uate school at the University of Chicago, John Wallace, who, like the writ-
ers I am studying here, came from England to North America to make a
career. At one point in my doctoral program he was pressed into writing
a qualifying examination for me on the topic of the literature of travel and
exploration, and he confided to me with a chuckle that he had never writ-
ten a test on a topic about which he knew so little. If he were still among
the living, he might not know what to make of my latest transatlantic ex-
cursion, but I am fairly sure he would tell me that at least (and at last) I
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