author
John Neal
1793–1876
A restless, outspoken literary pioneer, this early American novelist and critic pushed for a distinctly national voice in writing long before that idea was fashionable. His career stretched across fiction, essays, lectures, and reform work, giving his books an energy that still feels unusual today.
2 Audiobooks
Rachel Dyer : A North American story
by John Neal
Great Mysteries and Little Plagues
by John Neal
About the author
Born in Portland, Maine, in 1793, John Neal grew into one of the most wide-ranging figures in 19th-century American letters. He worked not just as a novelist, but also as a critic, editor, lecturer, and activist, building a reputation for being both eccentric and influential.
Neal wrote across many forms from the 1810s through the 1870s, publishing novels, essays, poems, short stories, and criticism in the United States and Great Britain. He is remembered for championing American literary nationalism and regional writing at an early moment, and for helping push American prose toward a more direct, colloquial style.
His interests reached well beyond literature. Neal also spoke and wrote in support of women's rights, and his long career made him a notable public voice in his era as well as a strikingly original man of letters.