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Arthur Mervyn Or, Memoirs of the Year 1793
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Genres:
This book is about:
- Yellow fever,
- Gothic fiction,
- Philadelphia (Pa.),
- Swindlers and swindling,
- Physicians,
- Young men,
- Murder,
- Fiction
NPR stories about Arthur Mervyn Or, Memoirs of the Year 1793
Three Books...
Fakin' It: Three Books On Masquerading Identities
My favorite impostor narrative is actually one of America's first gothic novels. Charles Brockden Brown's Arthur Mervyn contradicts the icon of the self-made American created by Ben Franklin in his famous autobiography. Like Franklin, Mervyn arrives in Philadelphia penniless. Unlike Franklin, he's quickly taken in by a scheming con man posing as a rich merchant. Soon, he's helping to bury a murdered body and hide counterfeit money — which is to say that our protagonist may not be as... more
—David Anthony
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