{"product_id":"9780808400493","title":"Algerine Captive","description":"He wrote the first American comedy to be performed onstage, and here, in this extraordinary but sadly little-remembered 1797 novel, he anticipates the great literature of the coming American century. Here, in two volumes in one book, Royall Tyler tells the astonishing-and thoroughly fictional-tale of Boston gentleman and scholar Updike Underhill, whose life encompasses such extremes as fumblings with Greek poetry that almost lead him to a deadly duel and a stint as a surgeon on a slave ship.\u003cp\u003eOne of the first works of fiction to feel uniquely American, this combination of satire and sincerity begins, in Volume 1, as a comedy of manners and genteel adventure the likes of which Mark Twain would later make his own, and transforms, in Volume 2, into a sober tale of abolition and a striking consideration of what it meant, in those early days of the nation, to be an American.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFans of American literature should consider this a must-read.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAmerican playwright ROYALL TYLER (1757-1826), born William Clark Tyler, wrote many other plays, some of which have been lost, as well as novels, essays, and humorous verse.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Rowman \u0026 Littlefield Publishing Group Inc","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47007769002224,"sku":"9780808400493","price":23.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780808400493_p0.jpg?v=1763727154","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780808400493","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}