This week I found a book of letters written by John Dunton. These letters detail his journey to New England, and his experiences once he got there. He went to the New World to sell books, as he was a book seller in England. His letters are written back to his friends and family in England. The source is very interesting because as a book seller he was familiar with other travel writings, and his letters seem to reflect that. In his descriptions it appears that he is trying to tell a complete story more than a simple account of his experiences, and that he already has aims to get it published. I am hoping to make this account my central source. I hoping to narrow in on his account of the settlers in New England, while contextualizing it with my knowledge of what is going on in England at the time. The sources I found last week I would like to use as to contrast accounts of the settlers.
Is there a particular aspect of culture that you want to contrast? For example, why is John Dunton immigrating? If he's a religious dissident, that could be a cool jumping off point to talk about the religious upheavals in England!
ReplyDeleteI think Dunton sounds like a perfect source given his book selling background. I can't think of many sources where you'd be able to compare their views on other accounts. It'll probably be pretty useful to utilize whatever accounts he mentions and analyze them yourself; it'd definitely provide a lot of insight into Dunton's mind.
ReplyDeleteHi Mackenzie, I think you and I will have a similar issue to sort through with our primary source: how to understand the source in light of its being something the author hoped would be published? Who did he anticipate as his audience? How did he want to be remembered? What aspects of his account would have been affected by this? Why would he want to publish it? And why did he think others would want to publish it or read it in the future?
ReplyDeleteThis source should be very interesting to you as the class goes on since your author was very familiar with travel literature. As far as the source itself, I find the practice of letter writing very interesting, especially since so many were written with the intent of publication. Maybe you could look into something about the form of letter writing and how that differs from other travel literature?
ReplyDeleteIn what way do his letters reflect that he was familiar with travel sources? Does he directly mention them, or is more of a rhetorical similarity?
ReplyDeleteI'm really curious to know what type of story Dunton is trying to craft. Is it about his experience as an immigrant? New England itself?
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