Charles Brockden Brown publishes the first significant…
July 1798 CE
The obvious theme of Wieland is the criticism of religious fanaticism; the novel calls into question the sensationalist psychology of the time. Ventriloquism exists as a plot device in Wieland, though it goes beyond this simplistic use; Clara Wieland can be thought of as Brown's ventriloquistic voice.
Late-eighteenth century critics scorn Wieland for its gimmickry, and many modern critics fault it as well.
The use of spontaneous combustion especially has been pointed at as a contrived element.
Brown's contemporary critics harshly fault him for using ventriloquism as the device that drives the plot of the novel, and consider the work to be unsophisticated because of its dependence on the conventions of Gothic novels and novels of seduction.
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Northern North America
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