fiction and financial panics

[Michael Perelman <michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I am an American Literature professor at the University of Wisconsin,
Madison. I'm currently at work on a book about American fiction and
financial panics between 1880 and 1913 (a revision of my Berkeley
dissertation). At the moment, I'm examining the anxieties a number of
late-19th.-c American economic observers had about the economic effects
of reading and writing, and I'm trying to understand the pre-history of
these anxieties. I'm interested in these observers' belief that certain
kinds of reading were economically salutary and certain kinds of reading
were economically dangerous. Specifically, I'm interested in the role
they saw certain kinds of reading and writing playing in the production
(or prevention) of economic crises.


David Zimmerman [dazimmerman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]


My question: Could you point me to any comments made by 18th-century or
early 19th-century economic observers in Britain or America about the
economic effects of writing and reading (or certain kinds of writing and
reading, or specific texts)? Do you know of any scholary discussions of
the role reading and writing played in the production (or prevention) of
economic crises, or any studies of 18th-c. or 19th-c. discussions of
this role? I'm interested in examining in some depth why these observers
thought certain types of books (fiction, for example, or certain popular
pamphlets, or specific economic texts) would help provoke financial and
commercial crises.



Whom else might I contact for more on this?



Thank you, as always, for your help. I look forward to hearing from you.




Best,



David Zimmerman


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Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Chico, CA 95929
530-898-5321
fax 530-898-5901