“Castles in Connecticut.” Isaac Mitchell and Alonzo and Melissa (1804): Trans-Hemispheric Gothic in Early America

Abstract

This Gothic Literature is today understood as crucial in order to comprehend the future evolution of American Literature, from its chronological origins to the present day. During the first phases of its evolution, along with Charles Brockden Brown, the most widely renown author shortly after the political independence of the United States, another name needs to be considered in order to understand the relevance of incipient American Gothic: New Yorker Isaac Mitchell, a collaborator of James Fenimore Coope. However, unlike Brown, Mitchell has remained in oblivion almost to the present day. Mitchell’s professional career mostly developed within the branch of journalism and edition. Beyond this, between 1802 and 1802, Mitchell published three novels that fall under very diverse classifications. The last of them, Alonzo and Melissa, would acquire more recognition, and it is today probably the most relevant to stablish how American Gothic first evolved. In consequence, the aim of this paper is to recover the most prominent features of this nearly forgotten work (under a fake attribution) and locating it within the long-standing American gothic tradition.

Keywords

• isaac mitchell
• alonzo and melissa
• novela gótica
• gótico popular
• literatura trans-hemisférica