Weyler Article Abstract

Jeannina Perez
Dr. Logan
23 February 2009

Weyler, Karen A. "An Actor in the Drama of Revolution: Deborah Sampson, Print, and Performance in the Creation of Celebrity." Feminist Interventions in Early American Studies. Ed. Mary C. Carruth. New York: University of Alabama P, 2006. 183-93.

Weyler’s chapter, included in Feminist Interventions in Early American Studies, explores how Deborah Sampson was “successful in her masquerade” (184) and gained public support despite her disruption of gender norms. Weyler frames this discussion by beginning with three accounts of women that cross-dressed as male soldiers in the American Revolution. Other female impersonating officers, Ann Bailey and an anonymous woman, faced severe punishment and denunciation for deviating from traditional female roles. As a result, Weyler questions how Sampson’s experience could be so dissimilar from the experience of these two women.

Weyler outlines four main factors she attributes to Sampson’s success and popularity. The four sections are retaining the image chastity, allowing men to speak for her publicly, awareness of gender performaty, and understanding the importance of print culture.

The preservation of chastity occurs in connection with Sampson’s understanding of gender roles. According to Weyler, Sampson’s cross-dressing is elevated as a patriotic gesture. By making her “masquerade,” a patriotic gesture Sampson’s asserts culturally that her actions are not an attempt to emasculate white men, making her actions acceptable. Weyler also connects cross-dressing to theatrics, the American Revolution posing as the main stage. Under this understanding of theater, Sampson acts like the masculine soldier only to return to traditional feminine attire and behavior upon completing her patriotic duty. The use of male voice and influence is another tool Weyler outlines. Sampson approaches both Freneau and Mann, influential male voices, to speak for her cause. Sampson understood that is these men spoke well of her actions that it would be more acceptable.

One of the elements that most interested me in Weyler’s article was Sampson as “a humanized version of the chaste goddesses Liberty and Columbia” (188). Weyler argues that this tactic was part of Sampson’s understanding of print culture. Print makes possible the exaggeration of Sampson’s chastity to a celestial level. Weyler points out that Mann goes as far as to call her the “orphaned daughter of Columbia” (189).

Weyler text also addresses the economic reasons behind Sampson’s actions. Upon being discovered, Sampson seemed “uninterested in capitalizing on her renown” (186). Economic hardships are what drive Sampson to seek compensation from the military. It is this search for compensation that leads to Mann’s text and Sampson’s speaking tour. Overall Weyler’s essay was illuminating. It has given me a lot of novel ideas for research and has helped me better understand the implications of Mann’s involvement.

Trouble getting the book...

I have been having trouble finding a modern version of this book for my research project. After hours of anger at the lack of publishing of this awesome text, I decided to periodically print out copies of the original text from the Evans database. I was not looking forward to it, but having been told the rule about the weird “s” I thought I could handle it. I was surprised how easily I adapted to reading the original text. Some parts are faded because it’s a copy, but overall I had a lot of fun reading the first chapter. The difference in printing type almost made me have to pay closer attention to the reading. When I took a Shakepeare class as an undergrad, my professor always brought copies of old texts to read to the class. I always found them really intimidating, so it was really pleasant to get out of my comfort zone here and then conquer the crazy S!

Various Pictoral Representations of Deborah Samson

Different Faces of DS!



www.historycooperative.org



www.gardenofpraise.com



www.myhero.com



www.libertykids.com

Completing the Artifact Inventory

Tidbits from the course artifact inventory assignment.

Beginning info on Herman Mann’s The Female Review

Question: When, where, and by whom was your text first printed?

Answer: Nathaniel and Benjamin Heaton first printed the novel in Dedham Massachusetts in 1797.

Question: How often was your text reprinted? List all of the reprints using MLA citation style. Do not confuse dates of publisher’s/printer’s birth and death with reprint dates.

Answesr: According to Worldcat and the National Union Catalog, it was reprinted four times.

- Mann, Herman. The female review. Life of Deborah Sampson, the female soldier in the war of the revolution. 2nd ed. Boston: J.K Wiggin & W.P. Lunt, 1866.

- Mann, Herman. The female review. Life of Deborah Sampson, the female soldier in the war of the revolution. 2nd ed. New York: W. Abbatt, 1916.

- Mann, Herman. The Female Review : Life of Deborah Sampson, the Female Soldier in the War of the Revolution. Boston: Ayer Company, Incorporated, 1978.

- Mann, Herman. The Female Review Life of Deborah Sampson, the Female Soldier in the War of the Revolution. New York: New Library P.Net, 2003.

Blog Thoughts: I was surprised at how few printings exist of this text. Davidson just made it sound so delicious that I expected it to be a relatively popular text. Davidson though does talk about the low number of subscriptions The Female Review had comparably to other earlier texts like Charlotte Temple. It is likely that because of low subscription that printers didn’t believe they could make a profit out of the text. This may have also be a text that was not well received to an extent because of its themes.

Question: What was the actual size of your novel in inches or centimeters? (That is, consider it as a material object.) What information can you find about its physical presence? Do you think it was expensive or inexpensive?

Answer: The actual size of the text is 17cm. According to the Evans database, the original text is leather bound with “intaglio” prints.

Blog Thoughts: When researching these aspects of the text I found myself wishing I could the actual original text. The opportunity to study this text digitally is an amazing testament to evolving scholarship but I cannot help but wonder what I am missing in some ways by not being able to see the actual physical book.

Question: View the original title page using the digital database or microfilm. What is included there?

Answer: The original title page has a portrait of Deborah Sampson (the main character) in an oval mirror that is embellished with an eagle and swords. It also has the name Deborah Sampson under the portrait. Under the name is written who the text was published by, but the name is difficult to read.

Blog Thoughts: I was so intrigued by the militant images surrounding the portrait of Deborah. While she did dress like a man to participate in the military, I still expected a highly feminine visual representation. Once I read the book, it may be clearer. It makes me think about the Disney representations of Mulan. Despite being a powerful woman that goes into the military by cross-dressing Disney always represents her as highly feminine.

Question: What miscellaneous front matter exists?

Answer: After the title page there is a page that has the complete title of the novel and a brief description of the text. Following the textual description, there is an explanation of the appendix followed by the printing information. The following page (not numbered) includes a dedication from the author to the reader about the purpose of the novel. The next page has merely the sentence “Published According to Act of Congress”.

Blog Thoughts: The thing that most stood out to me in these first couple of pages was how long the title was. The title morphs into a description of the actual text. It also almost sounds like a sales pitch to me when read aloud. It reminds me of modern books descriptions that we find at the back of our books. It’s just enough information to get the reader interested in the text. It’s interesting to see how those tools to allure readers still exist in different manifestations.

Who was Deborah Samson?

During the course of this blog I will be completing a research project about Herman Mann’s The Female Review. Mann’s text is his biographical interpretation of the life of Deborah Samson, a Massachusetts citizen that dressed like a man in order to participate in the American Revolutionary army.

There is some controversy among Samson followers in relation to Mann’s biography, arguing that Mann’s account is highly fictionalized and thus a misrepresentation. Since the actual person Deborah Samson and Mann’s account of her intrigue me, one of the things my blog will be exploring is Mann’s text in connection to the actual person.