When readers initially encounter Charles Brockden Brown’s first-person narrator in
Memoirs of Stephen Calvert, he has abandoned American social life and retreated to the wilds surrounding Lake Michigan. Calvert provides a brief but dark family history, which includes the births of himself and his twin brother, Felix, and how he and his parents secretly emigrated to America, leaving Felix behind. In America, the elder Stephen Calvert then dies mysteriously, leaving his wife and young son Stephen alone. When the story begins in earnest, Stephen Calvert inherits his uncle’s property, which should have gone to his cousin Louisa Calvert, whom he then wishes to marry because he believes himself in love with her and hopes, through marriage, to allow her to maintain a connection to the estate…
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Citation: Cody, Michael. "Memoirs of Stephen Calvert". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 October 2014 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35032, accessed 21 November 2024.]
