Early American Literature

"I sing the Pilgrim of a softer clime," wrote the abolitionist, Quaker, and Fireside Poet John Greenleaf Whittier in his well-known poem "The Pennsylvania Pilgrim," published in a volume of the same name in 1872. In the verse, Whittier sought to call attention to one of his faith tradition's notable early historical forebears: Francis Daniel Pastorius, a mystical German immigrant to Pennsylvania who settled Germantown (near Philadelphia) in 1683 and promptly converted to the English sect. "I sing the blue-eyed Spener taught, / Through whose veiled, mystic faith the Inward Light, / Steady and still, an easy brightness, shone." Pastorius the man—spiritualist and early modern thinker—can feel quite distant from modern times. As Whittier underscores, however, the German Quaker's place in American history is secured, in no small part because he was an early antislavery advocate. The Francis Daniel Pastorius Reader presents, for the first time, a thoroughly accessible panoply of Pastorius's work, opening a window into the intellectual world of a fascinating early American literary figure. The Reader will be of interest not only to scholars who stand to benefit from a more extensive familiarity with Pastorius's archive but also to instructors interested in expanding the voices of early American literature presented in their courses.

The Pastorius Reader is an important contribution to scholarship, making available a wide selection of Pastorius's most important writings while helping readers contextualize the works' significance to early American cultural history. "Pastorius's work is so valuable today because of the unique path he took both to his experience in America and to the clash between [End Page 305] old and new knowledge systems," the editors explain (ix). His body of work "grants readers today a panoramic vision of the influx of ideas to early America and their circulation throughout the Atlantic world" (x). The book presents ample evidence in support of its positioning of "Pastorius as thinker, reader, and collector of knowledge" (11). Thorough front matter consisting in part of a preface, editorial notes, and biographical details is followed by an in-depth introduction and two sections of edited writings. The first section comprises Pastorius's printed works, the second his oeuvre in manuscript. Together, the selections offer a nuanced view of Pastorius's intellectual life, with writings ranging on topics from the establishment of Germantown to poetry, private letters, and reflections on matters medical and scientific. Ten images of Pastorius's print and manuscript writings remind readers of the material realities that shape engagement with his works. The editors pay close attention to Pastorius's attitudes on slavery and Native American relations, helping to connect this esoteric figure to key issues in American social and cultural history.

The Francis Daniel Pastorius Reader presents wonderful opportunities for classroom use, coupled with some obstacles, given what, for many students, will be the challenging nature of the writings presented in the book. These issues can be addressed by scaffolding students' exploration of the Reader with historical and literary context. The second section of the book, focusing on Pastorius's manuscripts, is the most fascinating from a teaching standpoint. Instructors considering use of the book in the classroom should be aware that Pastorius's most famous manuscript, the "Beehive" commonplace book, has been digitized by the University of Pennsylvania and is accessible online (http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/medren/9924875473503681). The Reader features extensive excerpts from the Beehive, meaning that instructors could easily design a primary-source activity in which students engage with selections from the manuscript and gain a larger sense of Pastorius's oeuvre from the Reader. (Other documents in Pastorius's hand have been digitized by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, https://digitallibrary.hsp.org/.) The Reader also includes bibliographies of the various texts Pastorius features in the Beehive. An engaging classroom use of digital resources would be to task students with reconstructing Pastorius's thought world by finding editions of works quoted...