The Dividing Line Histories of William Byrd II of Westover (Published by the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture and the University of North Carolina Press) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1469633450 ISBN 13: 9781469633459

Publisher: Omohundro Institute and UNC Press, 2017

Synopsis

After his 1728 Virginia-North Carolina boundary expedition, Virginia planter and politician William Byrd II composed two very different accounts of his adventures. The Secret History of the Line was written for private circulation, offering tales of scandalous behavior and political misconduct, peppered with rakish humor and personal satire. The History of the Dividing Line, continually revised by Byrd for decades after the expedition, was intended for the London literary market, though not published in his lifetime. Collating all extant manuscripts, Kevin Joel Berland's landmark scholarly edition of these two histories provides wide-ranging historical and cultural contexts for both, helping to recreate the social and intellectual ethos of Byrd and his time.
Byrd enriched his narratives with material appropriated from earlier authors, many of whose works were in his library--the most extensive in the American colonies. Berland identifies for the first time many of Byrd's sources and raises the question: how reliable are histories that build silently upon antecedent texts and present borrowed material as firsthand testimony? In his analysis, Berland demonstrates the need for a new category to assess early modern history writing: the hybrid, accretional narrative.

About this title

About the Author:

Kevin Joel Berland is professor emeritus of English and comparative literature at the Pennsylvania State University.

Review:

Berland's edition offers useful contextual material, extensive scholarly annotation, and theoretical sophistication. His characterization of Byrd's texts as a hybrid, accretional narrative is genuinely groundbreaking and will transform scholarship on early American historiography.--Susan Castillo, King's College London
Byrd's expedition in 1728 aimed to settle a border dispute. His two accounts have been recognized as crucial documents in colonial history, as well as early classics of American literature. Berland's superbly documented edition crosses many disciplinary boundaries to establish the best text of each narrative and the fullest analysis of their cultural import.--Pat Rogers, University of South Florida
Meticulously transcribed and graced with a deeply insightful introduction that smoothly integrates the perspectives and concerns of historians and literary scholars, this is by far the best edition yet of Byrd's twin classics of early American literature.--James Rice, State University of New York at Plattsburgh
A landmark edition . . . a model of editorial innovation and integrity. [Berland]. . . documents in amazing detail the way in which colonial authors participated in a transatlantic culture of letters that was as rich as it was dynamic.--Martin Bruckner, University of Delaware

About this edition

• Publisher: Omohundro Institute and UNC Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1469633450
• ISBN 13: 9781469633459
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 528
• Editor: Berland Kevin Joel