Caroline Lee Hentz's novella Fatal Cosmetic (1839) and Rebekah Hyneman's serial novella The Fatal Cosmetic (1853) are harbingers of American sensation fiction, though for more than a century and a half they were doomed to oblivion. Although different in style and characterization, both novelists aimed at propagating social and political agendas. This paper examines the development of this genre's key elements from earlier conformist ones to their later comprehensive materialization. Moreover, it examines the possible mythological and historical sources Hyneman's novella draws on.

中文翻译：

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美杜莎又笑了？

卡罗琳·李·亨茨的中篇小说《致命化妆品》 （1839 年）和丽贝卡·海尼曼的连载中篇小说《致命化妆品》（1853 年）是美国轰动小说的先驱，尽管一个半世纪以来它们注定要被遗忘。尽管风格和特征不同，但两位小说家都旨在宣传社会和政治议程。本文考察了这一类型的关键要素从早期的顺从者到后来的综合物化的发展。此外，它还考察了海尼曼的中篇小说可能借鉴的神话和历史来源。