John Neal bibliography

The bibliography of American writer John Neal (1793–1876) spans more than sixty years from the War of 1812 through the Reconstruction era and includes novels, short stories, poetry, articles, plays, lectures, and translations published in newspapers, magazines, literary journals, gift books, pamphlets, and books. Favorite topics included women's rights, feminism, gender, race, slavery, children, education, law, politics, art, architecture, literature, drama, religion, gymnastics, civics, American history, science, phrenology, travel, language, political economy, and temperance.

Between 1817 and 1835, Neal became the first American published in British literary journals, author of the first history of American literature, the first American art critic, a children's literature pioneer, a forerunner of the American Renaissance, and one of the first American male advocates of women's rights. As the first American author to use natural diction and one of the first to write characters with regional American accents, Neal's fiction aligns with the literary nationalist and regionalist movements. A pioneer of colloquialism, Neal is the first to use the phrase son-of-a-bitch in an American work of fiction. His fiction explores the romantic and gothic genres.

Neal was a prolific contributor to periodicals, particularly in the second half of the 1830s. His critiques of literature, art, and drama anticipated future movements and contributed to the careers of many authors whose careers historically eclipsed Neal's. As a critic and political commentator, his essays and journalism showed distrust of institutions and an affinity for self-examination and self-reliance. Many of Neal's pamphlets are lectures he delivered between 1829 and 1848, when he supplemented his income by traveling on the lyceum movement circuit. He also published many short stories, averaging one per year in this time period. Neal's tales helped shape the genre and early children's literature and challenged socio-political phenomena associated with Jacksonian democracy. As a translator he worked mostly on French compositions but was able to read and write to some degree in eleven languages other than his native English. The bulk of his novels were published between 1822 and 1828 though he continued writing novels until the last decade of his life. His last major work was an 1874 guidebook for his hometown of Portland, Maine. There are four posthumous collections of his writing, published between 1920 and 1978.

John Neal felt that novels represented the highest form of prose. As a novelist, he is recognized as "the first in America to be natural in his diction" and "the father of American subversive fiction" for developing a new "wild, rough, and defiant American style" to break with British standards then dominant in the US. A pioneer of American colloquialism and dialects in novels, Neal's novels are aligned with both the literary nationalist and regionalist movements and anticipate the American Renaissance.

Many of Neal's pamphlets are lectures he delivered between 1829 and 1848, when he supplemented his income by traveling on the lyceum movement circuit.

John Neal was "perhaps the foremost critic of [his] era", commenting on literature, art, drama, politics, and a variety of social issues. As a critic and political commentator, his essays and journalism showed distrust of institutions and an affinity for self-examination and self-reliance. Compared to Neal's comparative lesser success at employing his literary theories in creative works, "his critical judgments have held. Where he condemned, time has almost without exception condemned also." Editors of newspapers, magazines, and annual publications sought contributions from Neal on a wide variety of topics, particularly in the second half of the 1830s. His early articles make him one of the first male advocates of women's rights and feminist causes in the US.

Neal was the first American to be published in any British literary magazine and in that capacity wrote the first history of American literature and American painters. His early encouragement of writers John Greenleaf Whittier, Edgar Allan Poe, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Elizabeth Oakes Smith, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and many others, helped launch their careers. As an art critic Neal was the first in the US, and his essays from the 1820s are recognized as "prophetic". As an "early firebrand" in theatrical criticism, his "prophesy" for American drama was only partially realized sixty years later.

This list includes only articles that have received the most scholarly attention and/or that are noted in scholarly works as particularly important milestones in Neal's career and/or the histories of the topics they cover. Those omitted here are included in the larger list of articles by John Neal.

Called "the inventor of the American short story", John Neal's tales are "his highest literary achievement" and he published an average of one per year between 1828 and 1846. Many of them challenged American socio-political phenomena that grew in the period leading up to and including Andrew Jackson's terms as US president (1829–1837): manifest destiny, empire building, Indian removal, consolidation of federal power, racialized citizenship, and the Cult of Domesticity. His work helped shape the relatively new short story genre, particularly early children's literature.

The bulk of Neal's poetry was published in The Portico while studying law in Baltimore in the late 1810s. By 1830 he had "acquired quite a reputation, especially as a poet", having been recognized in multiple poetry collections. Rufus Wilmot Griswold considered Neal one of the best poets of his age.

Neither of Neal's two fully conceived plays, nor his theatrical sketch, were ever produced for the stage.

Neal was fluent in French and able to easily converse and write in Spanish, Italian, and German. In addition, he "could manage ... pretty well" writing and reading Portuguese, Swedish, Danish, Hebrew, Latin, Greek, and Old Saxon. He learned to read Chinese shortly before his death.

Neal started writing for newspapers as a law apprentice, publishing legal papers on capital punishment, lotteries, insolvency law, imprisonment for debt, and Sturges v. Crowninshield. These early works put him in the public eye nationally for the first time. Throughout his life he was widely recognized as a journalist and he continued publishing in newspapers until near the end of his life.

This list includes newspapers not listed elsewhere in this bibliography.

• Badin, Donatella Abbate (1969). "L'Opera Critica di John Neal". Studi Americani. 15: 7–31. Archived from the original on January 31, 2024. Retrieved January 31, 2024.
• Barnes, Albert F. (1984). Greater Portland Celebration 350. Portland, Maine: Guy Gannett Publishing Co. ISBN 978-0-930096-58-8.
• Barry, William D. (May 20, 1979). "State's Father of Athletics a Multi-Faceted Figure". Maine Sunday Telegram. Portland, Maine. pp. 1D – 2D.
• Brooks, James (August 31, 1833). "Letters from the East—John Neal". New-York Mirror. Vol. 11. New York City, New York: G.P. Morris. pp. 69–70, 76–77, 84–85, 92–93, 100–101, 109, 117–118. Archived from the original on February 4, 2021. Retrieved March 24, 2021. (A serial biography of Neal published in eight installments).
• Daggett, Windsor (1920). A Down-East Yankee From the District of Maine. Portland, Maine: A.J. Huston. OCLC 1048477735. Archived from the original on August 2, 2020. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
• Davis, Theo (2007). Formalism, Experience, and the Making of American Literature in the Nineteenth Century. New York City, New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-46656-1.
• Dickson, Harold Edward (1943). Observations on American Art: Selections from the Writings of John Neal (1793-1876). State College, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State College. OCLC 775870.
• Elwell, Edward H. (1877). "Historical Sketches: Cumberland County". In Wood, Joseph (ed.). Fourteenth Annual Report of the Proceedings of the Maine Press Association, for the Year 1877. Portland, Maine: Brown Thurston & Co. pp. 22–31. OCLC 7158022. Archived from the original on August 20, 2023. Retrieved March 21, 2023. (Source url includes multiple separate publications bundled together).
• Fabris, Alberta (1966). "Il Randolph di John Neal". Studi Americani. 12: 15–44. Archived from the original on January 30, 2024. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
• Fleischmann, Fritz (1983). A Right View of the Subject: Feminism in the Works of Charles Brockden Brown and John Neal. Erlangen, Germany: Verlag Palm & Enke Erlangen. ISBN 978-3-7896-0147-7.
• Fleischmann, Fritz (1985). "'A Likeness Once Acknowledged': John Neal and the 'Idiosyncrasies' of Literary History". In Meindl, Dieter; Horlacher, Friedrich W.; Christadler, Martin (eds.). Myth and Enlightenment in American Literature: In Honor of Hans-Joachim Lang. Erlanger Forschungen, band 38. Erlangen, Germany: University of Erlangen–Nuremberg University Library. ISBN 3-922135-43-9.
• Fleischmann, Fritz (1987). "Yankee Heroics: New England Folk Life and Character in the Fiction of Portland's John Neal (1793–1876)". In Vaughan, David K. (ed.). Consumable Goods: Papers from the North East Popular Culture Association Meeting, 1986. Orono, Maine: National Poetry Foundation, University of Maine. pp. 157–165. ISBN 0943373026.
• Fleischmann, Fritz (2007). "John Neal (1793–1876)". In Gardiner, Judith Kegan; Pease, Bob; Pringle, Keith; Flood, Michael (eds.). International Encyclopedia of Men and Masculinities. Vol. 2. London, England: Routledge. pp. 565–567. ISBN 978-0-415-33343-6.
• Fleischmann, Fritz (2012). "Chapter 12: "A Right Manly Man" in 1843: John Neal on Women's Rights and the Problem of Male Feminism". John Neal and Nineteenth Century American Literature and Culture. pp. 247–270. In Watts & Carlson (2012a).
• Goddu, Theresa A. (1997). Gothic America: Narrative, History, and Nation. New York City, New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-10817-1.
• Hayes, Kevin J. (2012). "Chapter 13: How John Neal Wrote His Autobiography". John Neal and Nineteenth Century American Literature and Culture. pp. 271–282. In Watts & Carlson (2012a).
• Holtzman, Geoffrey S. (December 16, 2015). "When Phrenology Was Used in Court: Lessons in Neuroscience from the 1834 Trial of a 9-year-old". Slate. New York City, New York. Archived from the original on May 16, 2021. Retrieved April 4, 2021.
• Kayorie, James Stephen Merritt (2019). "John Neal (1793–1876)". In Baumgartner, Jody C. (ed.). American Political Humor: Masters of Satire and Their Impact on U.S. Policy and Culture. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. pp. 86–91. ISBN 978-1-4408-5486-6.
• Lease, Benjamin (1972). That Wild Fellow John Neal and the American Literary Revolution. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-46969-0.
• Lease, Benjamin; Lang, Hans-Joachim, eds. (1978). The Genius of John Neal: Selections from His Writings. Las Vegas, Nevada: Peter Lang. ISBN 978-3-261-02382-7.
• Lee, W. Storrs, ed. (1968). Maine: A Literary Chronicle. New York City, New York: Funk & Wagnalls. OCLC 334673.
• McCoubrey, John W. (1965). American Art 1700–1960. Sources and Documents in the History of Art Series. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. OCLC 503223.
• Merlob, Maya (2012). "Chapter 5: Celebrated Rubbish: John Neal and the Commercialization of Early American Romanticism". John Neal and Nineteenth Century American Literature and Culture. pp. 99–122. In Watts & Carlson (2012a).
• Meserve, Walter J. (1986). Heralds of Promise: The Drama of the American People During the Age of Jackson 1829-1849. New York City, New York: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-25015-6.
• Neal, John (1869). Wandering Recollections of a Somewhat Busy Life. Boston, Massachusetts: Roberts Brothers. OCLC 1056818562. Archived from the original on March 30, 2022. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
• Neal, John; Lang, Hans-Joachim; Richards, Irving T. (1962). "Critical Essays and Stories by John Neal". Jahrbuch für Amerikastudien. 7: 204–319. JSTOR 41155013. Archived from the original on April 10, 2023. Retrieved January 29, 2024.
• Orestano, Francesca (2012). "Chapter 6: John Neal, the Rise of the Critick, and the Rise of American Art". John Neal and Nineteenth Century American Literature and Culture. pp. 123–144. In Watts & Carlson (2012a).
• Pattee, Fred Lewis (1937). "Introduction". In Pattee, Fred Lewis (ed.). American Writers: A Series of Papers Contributed to Blackwood's Magazine (1824–1825). Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. pp. 3–26. OCLC 464953146.
• Pinkney, Edward Coote (1926). Pleadwell, Frank Lester; Mabbott, Thomas Olive (eds.). The Life and Works of Edward Coote Pinkney: A Memoir and Complete Text of His Poems and Literary Prose, Including Much Never Before Published. New York City, New York: The Macmillan Company. OCLC 1510164. Archived from the original on August 21, 2021. Retrieved September 22, 2021.
• Richards, Irving T. (1933). The Life and Works of John Neal (PhD). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University. OCLC 7588473. Archived from the original on February 19, 2022. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
• Sears, Donald A. (1978a). John Neal. Boston, Massachusetts: Twayne Publishers. ISBN 978-0-8057-7230-2.
• Sears, Donald A. (1978b). "Maine Fiction Before 1840: A Microcosm". Colby Library Quarterly. 14 (3): 109–124. Archived from the original on June 5, 2023. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
• Sears, Donald A. (1987). "John Neal (25 August 1793 – 20 June 1876)". In Rathbun, John W.; Grecu, Monica M. (eds.). American Literary Critics and Scholars, 1800–1850. Dictionary of Literary Biography. Vol. 59. Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research Company. pp. 233–241.
• Watts, Edward; Carlson, David J., eds. (2012a). John Neal and Nineteenth Century American Literature and Culture. Lewisburg, Pennsylvania: Bucknell University Press. ISBN 978-1-61148-420-5.
• Watts, Edward; Carlson, David J. (2012b). "Introduction". John Neal and Nineteenth Century American Literature and Culture. pp. xi–xxxiv. In Watts & Carlson (2012a).
• Weiss, Kenneth J. (September 2007). "Isaac Ray at 200: Phrenology and Expert Testimony". Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. 35 (3): 339–345. PMID 17872556. Archived from the original on April 19, 2021. Retrieved April 4, 2021.
• Weyler, Karen A. (2012). "Chapter 11: John Neal and the Early Discourse of American Women's Rights". John Neal and Nineteenth Century American Literature and Culture. pp. 227–246. In Watts & Carlson (2012a).
• Yorke, Dane (March 1930). "Yankee Neal". The American Mercury. Vol. 19, no. 75. New York City, New York: Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 361–368.

• John Neal Archived October 11, 2020, at the Wayback Machine at Library of Congress Authorities
• Works by or about John Neal at the Internet Archive
• Works by John Neal Archived January 24, 2022, at the Wayback Machine at Open Library
• Works by John Neal Archived October 9, 2020, at the Wayback Machine on the Online Books Page of the University of Pennsylvania Library