Wit and Wisdom: The Forgotten Literary Life of New England Villages - Hardcover

Joan Newlon Radner (author)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1625347391 ISBN 13: 9781625347398

Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press, 2023

Synopsis

The lyceum movement gained momentum in the decades preceding the Civil War, presenting members with the opportunity to participate in literary life and engage with the issues of the day. While urban lyceums played host to a who’s who of nineteenth-century intellectual life, literary societies also cropped up in thousands of villages across the nation, acting as influential sites of learning, creativity, and community engagement. In rural New England, ordinary men and women, farmers and intelligentsia, selectmen and schoolchildren came together to write and perform poetry and witty parodies and debate a wide range of topics, from women’s rights and temperance to slavery, migration, and more.

Wit and Wisdom takes readers inside this long-forgotten tradition, providing new access to the vibrant voices, surprising talents, and understated humor on display on many a cold winter’s night. Having uncovered dozens of handwritten newspapers produced by village lyceums across Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts, Joan Newlon Radner proves that these close-knit groups offered a vital expression of the beliefs, ambitions, and resilience of rural New Englanders.

About this title

About the Author

Joan Newlon Radner is professor emerita of literature at American University. She is past president of both the National Storytelling Network and the American Folklore Society.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1625347391
• ISBN 13: 9781625347398
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272