Wieland is often categorized under several subgenres other than gothic fiction, including horror, psychological fiction and epistolary fiction. Godwin's influence is clear, but Brown's writing is unique in its style. It has often been linked to Caleb Williams by William Godwin. Wieland is the first – and most famous – American Gothic novel. First published in 1798, it distinguishes the true beginning of his career as a writer. It seems Brown was quite prolific as Wieland was his first published novel, it would be interesting to see if his later works improved.Wieland, is the first major work by Charles Brockden Brown. I found the biography of the author from the 1856 Cyclopedia of American Literature, included in this volume, much more interesting than the novel. There's just nothing spooky or suspenseful about this story. And, there's no indication of the "invisible power and nameless fear" mentioned on the back cover. The reader isn't shown anything we're told the whole story. He spent three chapters explaining how he just couldn't keep from using his "evil power" and came off sounding like a whiny adolescent.īut, worst of all, this is a book where NOTHING happens. The "villian" of the piece, Carwin, reminded me of many of the villians in real life today who claim "It's not my fault. Clara Wieland and her family all struck me as bored young men and women with nothing better to do than sit around gossiping. Even excusing the writing style, I didn't like this book. This book was written in 1798, and it is a little difficult to get used to some of the conventions of that time period. At first, I thought it was because of the style of writing. This is still pretty shocking in places for a modern audience, i can't imagine how it must have been received in 1798. Also the very end is a sort of epilogue and felt quite pointless and a bit of a let down after the earlier climax. If you want a properly dark and tragic mystery this might be for you, if you can get past the vocabulary. The resolution and final reveal are much better than i was expecting however the explanation doesn't re-iterate past events with any detail, so if you weren't paying attention before it won't do you much good. This felt in parts like an episode of Criminal Minds. It's a surprisingly modern tale in terms of its violence, i suppose other gothic works like and are violent too but its done in a much more over the top and less recognizable way. The story builds up quite a bit of tension despite the rather formal language. It was almost exactly half-way through that things finally started to get to a the point. Quite close to giving this 4 stars but it does take quite a while to get going.
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