The Eclectic Review - Content

Content

The Eclectic reviewed more American literature than any other English periodical of the time. By 1806, it had an entire section dedicated to American literature. As Basker explains, "this continuing attention to American literature was far more than a condescending curiosity about the culture of the young republic. Rather remarkably, even as early as 1810, American authors were accorded the same serious treatment as the major authors in English and other European languages." For example, in 1820 the Eclectic began reviewing Washington Irving's Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, writing that it was "the first purely literary production that has issued from the American press, which could claim to rank, in point of original talent and classic elegance of style, with the best English authors".

However, English authors were still given far more attention than American, and William Wordsworth was the most reviewed of all. Essays were written about the new Romantic movement. In general, the Eclectic preferred Wordsworth to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, particularly after the publication of "Kubla Khan", calling on him "to break off his desultory and luxurious habits, and to brace his mind to intellectual exertion". Percy Bysshe Shelley was criticized for his profanity and atheism, however John Keats was judged to have "promise". After Wordsworth, it was Byron's poetry which was reviewed most often. The Eclectic criticized it, but heralded works such as Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, writing that the reader would "be dazzled even to tears". The major novelists of the time were not neglected. For example, Sir Walter Scott's novels were reviewed, due to their popularity, "but his works were regarded with a certain ambivalence". In reviewing Ivanhoe, for example, the reviewer wrote that it was "one of the cleverest of all our Author's productions" but that it was "a failure" as a romance. Almost all of Charles Dickens's novels were reviewed in the Eclectic, as were novels by the Brontës, William Thackeray, Anthony Trollope, Victor Hugo, and George Eliot. According to Basker, "the Eclectic's treatment of the novel was balanced, insightful, and sophisticated". The Eclectic also reviewed the works of important literary figures such as George Crabbe, Robert Burns, James Hogg, William Hazlitt, Stendhal, and Goethe. It did not shy away from reviewing the works of controversial figures, however, such as Thomas de Quincey. It reviewed the works of both Brownings, calling Elizabeth Barrett Browning "the Schiller of our higher nature" and compared Robert Browning to Tennyson. The Eclectic also claimed to be the first journal to "discover" and "to notice at any length" Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market and Other Poems.

As Basker writes, "beyond literature, the Eclectic covered books in every field imaginable". For example, the January 1845 issue had seven major articles; three were on literary subjects and the rest were on theology, politics, education, and natural history. The Eclectic also reviewed art exhibitions. Furthermore, important contemporary scientific and philosophical subjects were given extensive space. For example, the Oxford Movement was debated and Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species was reviewed. Basker writes that "in general, over the years the Eclectic showed remarkable tolerance for other religious groups—not only the various denominations of Protestants, but also Roman Catholics and Jews." Moreover, it steadfastly opposed slavery and supported social reform.