The Indian Princess

James Nelson BarkerProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.2

Word count: 103K words
Chapters: 11

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Indian Princess by James Nelson BarkerAuthor: Barker, James Nelson, 1784-1858,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jun 27, 2009

Editor's review

James Nelson Barker's The Indian Princess is a frequently mentioned work in early American drama, prepared by Project Gutenberg as a free electronic text. Centering on the figure of a Native American woman, the play blends romance, adventure, and the theatrical tastes of its time, reflecting how playwrights of the early republic used native subject matter to construct a national narrative. For readers studying American literature and drama history, it is an important text for observing how the early American stage handled Native American images, gender roles, and national imagination. Readers should keep the work's historical context in mind: its Native American images carry the popular notions and stage conventions of the early nineteenth century, and modern readers will notice clear period limitations, which is itself part of understanding literary history. The language is early nineteenth-century English, and some expressions require patience. It is best read as material for drama history and image studies rather than as Native American literature in today's sense.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Scholars and students studying early American drama and the representation of Native Americans
Literary readers interested in the construction of national narrative in American literary history
Translators and drama researchers who need nineteenth-century English public-domain play scripts
University course users interested in early American stage history

Not a good fit for

Readers hoping for literature from Native American perspectives themselves
Readers who prefer modern narrative pacing and have little patience for verse or archaic dialogue
Rigorous researchers seeking a fully annotated scholarly edition

Reading tips

Before reading, learn about the early nineteenth-century trend of native subject matter in American drama to situate the work.
Note how Native American images are shaped in the play and read it alongside other works of the same period.
Treat the script as both historical source and literary text, noting traces of period attitudes as you read.
If the English original is difficult, read the plot summary and character list first, then move on to close reading of the dialogue.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Are the Native American images in this play reliable?

The work reflects the stage imagination of early nineteenth-century American playwrights; its Native American images carry the popular notions and conventions of the time and are not equivalent to Native American cultural expression itself. It should be read as material for literary history and image studies, not as ethnographic source material.

What level of English is needed to read the original?

The original is early nineteenth-century English with verse dialogue and period expressions; good English reading ability is recommended. Non-native readers can read alongside a plot summary and background materials and need not parse every word.

Is this book suitable for classroom use?

It is suitable for courses on American drama history, literary history, or image studies as material for discussing early American native subject matter. However, the electronic text has no modern annotation, so teachers usually need to supply background and introductory materials.

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About the author

James Nelson Barker Author · American · 1784–1858

James Nelson Barker (1784–1858) was an early American playwright. He is best known for The Indian Princess, a play that brought Native American subject matter to the stage and stood out among American drama of its time. Public information about his life is limited, and only one of his works is held in this collection, so it is difficult to describe his full body of work or personal experience in detail. On the available evidence, Barker's significance lies mainly in his choice of subject: he drew on American land and people as dramatic material, giving his work a distinct local character and setting a precedent for later American drama to engage with its own themes. His style and exact influence await further documentation.