{"product_id":"sink-or-swim-capitalist-selfhood-and-nineteenth-century-american-literature-paperback","title":"Sink or Swim: Capitalist Selfhood and Nineteenth-Century American Literature - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eAndrew Kopec\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePeople living in the nineteenth-century United States saw shocking upheavals in both the economy and in ideas of selfhood in a commercial society. Narratives such as Horatio Alger's rags-to-riches tales allured Americans with visions of financial success, while events such as the Panics of 1819, 1837, 1857, and 1865 threatened them with sudden and devastating financial failure. The antebellum period's \"go-ahead\" ethos encouraged individuals to form an identity amid this chaos by striving for financial success through risk-taking--that is, to form a capitalist self. Andrew Kopec argues that writers of this era were not immune to this business turbulence; rather, their responses to it shaped the development of American literature. By examining the public and private writings of well-known American writers--including Washington Irving, Catharine Maria Sedgwick, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Frederick Douglass--Kopec contends that, instead of anxiously retreating from the volatile market, these figures deliberately engaged with it in their writing.\u003cbr\u003eThese writers grappled with both the limits and opportunities of capitalist selfhood and tried, in various ways, to harness the economy's energies for the benefit of the self. In making this argument, Kopec invites readers to consider how this era of American literature questioned the ideologies of capitalist identity that seem inescapable today.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eAndrew Kopec is associate professor of English at Purdue University Fort Wayne.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 204\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.47 x 9.21 x 6.14 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e September 30, 2025\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46980158587055,"sku":"9781469690179","price":50.21,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0723\/7314\/1679\/files\/KckYW-Apvn9781469690179.webp?v=1780068903","url":"https:\/\/valuevaultclub.myshopify.com\/products\/sink-or-swim-capitalist-selfhood-and-nineteenth-century-american-literature-paperback","provider":"Value Vault Club","version":"1.0","type":"link"}