SOURCE: "Charles Brockden Brown and the Establishment of Romance," in American Fiction: An Historical and Critical Survey, D. Appleton-Century Company, 1936, pp. 25-39.

In the following essay, Quinn argues that Brown's novels reflect his interest in both the romance genre and in American material. Quinn goes on to study the romantic elements of Wieland, Arthur Mervyn, Edgar Huntly, and Ormond.

The foundations of American fiction were laid by writers who, with few exceptions, were the creators of one novel, or were sporadic in their efforts. In the work of Charles Brockden Brown, however, we have the professional man of letters, with an achievement which may be estimated in terms both of quality and quantity.

That he wrote romances was of course inevitable. But in speaking of his work as romantic, it is important to employ this misused term correctly. Much confusion would be avoided if the name "romantic" were...